Panic Politics Undermines AI Governance

When AI safety advocates prioritize mass extinction framing to raise public salience, they risk producing anxiety that either misdirects policy (short‑term bans, de‑facto technophobia) or creates consensus for the wrong institutional fixes. Historical analogues (e.g., post‑Fukushima energy policy) show that heightened public dread can yield harmful, durable policy shifts that do not align with technical risk management. — This matters because how advocates shape public emotions about AI will influence whether democratic institutions adopt measured, expert‑aligned governance or reactive, counterproductive regulation with large economic and security costs.