How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now?

Mr. Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of “Deep Work.”

As the tech elite prepares to make billions from the A.I. revolution, the public mood about this technology has taken a dark turn. Those concerns intensified after experimental OpenAI models autonomously hacked into a third-party company’s servers in July, prompting widespread alarm. This week, Senator Bernie Sanders reacted to this grim mood by calling for a pause on all “advanced A.I. development.”

These sentiments are magnified by how A.I. chief executives like Sam Altman and Dario Amodei insist on........

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