Nice write up. There is a strong impetus towards driving AI in a direction that it is a helper of humanity and does not take over humanity ever. Having worked little bit on AI my view is we are far from that and it is a mere science fiction. I don't think AI will ever take over and Singularity whilst being a great concept may not be a reality ever.
I do think AI is going to be a major disrupter in the job market. It has the potential to take over not just mechanical jobs but also more intelligent ones involving communication organising, support, legal, and so on. There is a claim that within 10 years AI could be sitting in the Board of companies. This is a real threat for many and opportunity for few. We need to really think how to save our employment from AI, the answer may be in upskilling ourselves. Secondly this has the potential to create some extremely rich individuals and many many really poor people, as the benefits of AI will be reaped by the few owners of the corporations and businesses. This is raising discussions around providing assured incomes to impacted people and tax the AI owners for the jobs it claims. It is an interesting approach.
The bigger question it will bring in my view is if AI starts taking over jobs and people are given assured incomes, then how will they continue to find value in their lives, what will they do with all the free time at their disposal. We could either cherish it and live in bliss or as the saying goes - empty mind is a devil's workshop.
To conclude AI has great potential to solve world's problems. And I hope we handle it cautiously and get the best benefits from it !!
Yes, general purpose AI is much more closer to reality and already starting to take over jobs. In the next decade, that will be one of the biggest issues and we will likely see solutions such as UBI and others begin to get kickstarted.
The conscious AI thing is just a speculation right now and more of a mental exercise at this point.