AI's early impact too indirect for average people, Interconnects warns

The author, writing from a personal perspective, contrasts the tangible, life-changing goods of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions with today's AI, which he sees as offering mostly indirect or marginal benefits to average people. This gap, he argues, fuels a political backlash that threatens AI's long-term development. The essay suggests that while AI is becoming fundamental to knowledge work, roughly half of the U.S. economy, the other half remains unaffected, creating a destabilizing imbalance. The author's proposed solution hinges on making AI's benefits more tangible, possibly through robotics and self-driving cars, or by buying time for the diffusion process. The stakes are high: without public buy-in, AI could follow the cautionary path of American nuclear power, its potential kneecapped by societal resistance.