I think this is a replay of the contrast I mentioned here of “static” vs “dynamic” conceptions about AI. To the author of the original post, AI is an existing technology that has taken a particular shape, so its important to ask what harms that shape might cause in society. To AI safety folk, the shape is an intermediate stage and rapidly changing into a world ending superbeing, so asking about present harms (or, indeed, being overly worried about chatbot misalignment) is a distraction from the “core issue”.
I think this is a replay of the contrast I mentioned here of “static” vs “dynamic” conceptions about AI. To the author of the original post, AI is an existing technology that has taken a particular shape, so its important to ask what harms that shape might cause in society. To AI safety folk, the shape is an intermediate stage and rapidly changing into a world ending superbeing, so asking about present harms (or, indeed, being overly worried about chatbot misalignment) is a distraction from the “core issue”.