In “Trucks,” one of Stephen King’s short stories in “Night Shift,” large motor vehicles suddenly become sentient beings aimed at destroying human life. The story follows the plight of a small group of survivors who hide out at a truck stop trying to avoid being exterminated in the parking lot. Eventually, the few remaining humans are forced to refuel their truck overlords and manufacture them indefinitely. 

Last week, a senior Anthropic official wrote in a lengthy resignation thread posted to X that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Since then, the pro-tech and anti-tech gurus have been fighting it out on the national stage. Is ChatGPT going to kill us all, or is it a nice companion for nice knitting grandmas?

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