The "AI 2027" Scenario: How realistic is it?

Another huge data center with squillions of GPUs and coolers and all the rest is the only option. It's not like it is going to be in our TV remotes or floating about in the air.

They need huge compute, so I think the risk of an escaping AI is basically very close to zero, and if we have a "rogue" AI we can literally pull the plug.

To me the more real risk is creeping integration and reliance in everyday life until things become "too big to fail" so we can't pull the plug even if we wanted to (and there are interesting thoughts about humanoid robots getting deployed widely and what happens with all that).

But I would imagine if it really became a genuine existential threat we'd have to just do it and suffer the consequences of reverting to circa 2020 life styles.

But hey I feel slightly better about my employment prospects now :)

How about such an AI will not just incentivize key personnel to not pull the plug but to protect it? Such an AI will scheme a coordinated attack at the backbones of our financial system and electric networks. It just needs a threshold number of people on its side.

Your assumption is also a little naive if you consider that the same logic would apply to slaves in Rome or any dictatorship, kingdom, monarchy. The king is the king because there is a system of hierarchies and control over access to resources. Just the right number of people need to benefit from their role and the rest follows.