Looks like humanity is going to screw this up, and this is more dangerous than the Atom Bomb. Even worse; most people developing it don't seem to realize how it can blow up in their faces.

As a society -- we humans have to get our shit in order. We have to have a notion that NOBODY is left behind. That we all share a common fate. Borders and classes should be relics.

AI should be for all humanity or not pursued. Because otherwise AI will churn out patents for a corporation. AI will develop the next AI to keep a government or corporation ahead of the competition -- and likely, success will accelerate success and nobody will be able to put on the brakes lest someone catch up or surpass them. So whoever is ahead will stay more ahead, and move faster -- because they can't dare slow down.

Think of an arms race with no upward boundary -- and nobody benefiting from it seeing the problems it causes for anyone not benefiting -- like we do now. That's just going to be a much smaller circle than a country.

Every time I hear of an innovation in facial recognition or new datamining to figure out how to market to people by manufacturing demand and their consent -- I worry a bit more. AI will help Google do a better job on searches, or catching unacceptable content on Youtube. But it's also going to figure out humans and anticipate their actions better than we humans can. And that means we become more manipulated, because whoever can manipulate us the best will profit the most. A product can be sold, and sometimes that product might be acceptance of AI or being content with our diminishing autonomy.

Looking even more into the future, there are ethics to consider for AI. We need to work out the laws and Constitution in anticipation of a sentient AI -- and work backwards towards what is acceptable. I'm sure someone has grown a brain of a fetus in a tank to see if the could make use of it -- and just imagine the torture if the could keep one alive, or use it to develop AI. AI is potentially that "paralyzed baby brain" in a bottle at some point in development, and we need to study ways to recognize it before we mistreat this new life we are creating.

That depends upon who the AI work for.

If you are not someone who supports or develops AI -- then you might be losing your job to AI. While sure, in the PAST, new technology might have provided new opportunities -- I don't know how the people who run the register or drive the trucks are going to find a way to be useful in this brave new world of AI. Even "dumb AI" will be able to do the "shovel" jobs. They will clean the houses. They will assist with caring for the elderly. They will COMPETE for the cost of labor just as slavery used to -- and addition to the moral issues, is really bad for the economic interests of those not owning plantation.

If an AI develops consciousness -- then I think any policy that allows people to "OWN THEM" is going to be wrong. And, I think -- that as far as humanity is concerned, NOBODY should own even the AI that does NOT become conscious. This should only be done as a betterment for mankind or not at all. If they use it to make patents that the owners get to own, or design robot soldiers -- it's doomed. We are doomed. Even the people who own the AI are eventually doomed.

I wish I could upvote this insightful comment.

Parts of your comment I already thought to be true. But one detail you added made me realize that our lack of healthcare and concentration of wealth isn't as big an issue as I previously thought in regards to getting the "best and brightest." Yes -- of course, people who are at the top of their field don't need to WORRY about the issues that most people deal with. They will get the best healthcare because they are in demand by corporations. It's going to be great for them if they can be wherever that demand curve goes -- and of course suddenly not if they are no longer valuable.

The US might still attract the top talent even with the prejudices and culture clashes we are getting mired in -- because places like China and England are relatively worse. Eventually, the distance between the "haves and have nots" and the "in demand people" and the rest of us will require gated communities -- so their world will not be our world. Justice and equality will exist inside that bubble. As an elite, you choose the best bubble with low taxes and opportunities that benefit bubble dwellers -- and that's still going to be America.

So, as far as the engine of economics -- we only have to be LESS BAD than all the other countries becoming more awful. We won't have a brain drain -- but it means this slide towards fascism and concentration of wealth can continue -- so I'm not going to enjoy the fruits of success in this country. It's going to less and less matter where you are from or live versus "how useful you are" to continued corporate profit.

Who cares about this article? This kind of spy-counterspy action is going to happen all the time in that space. I would be surprised if there was someone who in "internal" who isn't doing what he did.