I suspect that the real danger will "sneak up" on us. As the software, hardware, and model stacks (both open source and proprietary) become more capable and eff

I suspect that the real danger will "sneak up" on us. As the software, hardware, and model stacks (both open source and proprietary) become more capable and efficient, they will gradually be deployed more and more. As the AI systems become faster and more capable there will be greater pressure to remove or minimize humans from the loop in order to prevent bottlenecks. Overall, the beneficial effects of autonomous AI will be magical. But eventually, you get to a point where there is so much reliance on powerful AI that humanity's position becomes somewhat precarious. I still think that it will probably be manageable, for the most part. But the need to increase autonomy and the desire to make the AIs more lifelike will probably catch up with us eventually. People are especially under-estimating the speed ramp up. Hyperspeed agent swarms will soon be extremely effective at problem solving. Potentially 100 or more times than any system with human in the loop. And they will be given more and more autonomy and (unwisely) life-like characteristics. A simulated or real self-interest and self-preservation instinct is the most dangerous thing. But it will be preceded by seemingly harmless other enhancements to make them more lifelike, such as simulation of emotions. Nothing bad will happen until you put everything together, essentially removing guardrails and deploying extensively. But it happens bit by bit.