I think one possible alternative is that we never build anything that approaches general intelligence, but we build a lot of mostly autonomous systems that are

I think one possible alternative is that we never build anything that approaches general intelligence, but we build a lot of mostly autonomous systems that are better than human beings in a lot of domains, and which may behave in ways that their creators never intended. Once we allow ais to manage warfare and the economy with minimal human input, they are going to alter the face of the planet in ways that we can’t predict and probably faster than we can adjust to them. It can happen in small steps with alogorithmic trading and battlefield drones gradually being given more and more decision making power and resources to control. They don’t even have to have any sort of intention or independent will—only autonomy and power.