AI fears are being weaponised

Adji Bousso Dieng argues that AI is already causing concrete harms, including job losses, rising data-centre energy use, automated disinformation, algorithmic bias and military targeting. Yet global debate is dominated by apocalyptic scenarios echoed by figures including Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vatican and Hillary Clinton. The focus on existential risk, she says, distracts from crises already affecting work, the environment and communications. Public panic can also be weaponised to advance digital colonisation by concentrating power in a few AI companies and countries.