America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI.

A Pew Research Center survey published in September found that 50 percent of respondents were more concerned than excited about AI; just 10 percent felt the opposite. Most people, 57 percent, said the societal risks were high, while a mere 25 percent thought the benefits would be high. In another poll, only 2 percent — 2 percent! — of respondents said they fully trust AI’s capability to make fair and unbiased decisions, while 60 percent somewhat or fully distrusted it. Standing athwart the development of AI and yelling “Stop!” is quickly emerging as one of the most popular positions on both ends of the political spectrum.

Putting aside the fact that Americans sure are actually using AI all the time, these fears are understandable. We hear that AI is stealing our electricity, stealing our jobs, stealing our vibes, and if you believe the warnings of prominent doomers, potentially even stealing our future. We’re being inundated with AI slop — now with Disney characters! Even the most optimistic takes on AI — heralding a world of all play and no work — can feel so out-of-this-world utopian that they’re a little scary too.

Our contradictory feelings are captured in the chart of the year from the Dallas Fed forecasting how AI might affect the economy in the future:

Red line: AI singularity and near-infinite money. Purple line: AI-driven total human extinction and, uh, zero money.

But I believe part of the reason we find AI so disquieting is that the disquieting uses — around work, education, relationships — are the ones that have gotten most of the attention, while pro-social uses of AI that could actually help address major problems tend to go under the radar. If I wanted to change people’s minds about AI, to give them the good news that this technology would bring, I would........

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