People make politicians, nations, AI, then identify with them. That there is mutual influence doesn't change the basic alienation as described by Erich Fromm for example:

> The whole concept of alienation found its first expression in Western thought in the Old Testament concept of idolatry. The essence of what the prophets call "idolatry" is not that man worships many gods instead of only one. It is that the idols are the work of man's own hands -- they are things, and man bows down and worships things; worships that which he has created himself. In doing so he transforms himself into a thing. He transfers to the things of his creation the attributes of his own life, and instead of experiencing himself as the creating person, he is in touch with himself only by the worship of the idol. He has become estranged from his own life forces, from the wealth of his own potentialties, and is in touch with himself only in the indirect way of submission to life frozen in the idols. The deadness and emptiness of the idol is expressed in the Old Testament: "Eyes they have and they do not see, ears they have and they do not hear," etc. The more man transfers his own powers to the idols, the poorer he himself becomes, and the more dependent on the idols, so that they permit him to redeem a small part of what was originally his. The idols can be a godlike figure, the state, the church, a person, possessions.

-- Erich Fromm, "Marx's Concept of Man" ( http://www.marxists.org/archive/fromm/works/1961/man/ )

Not that I think AI has to be used that way. But if we do that stuff with soccer teams and bands and software, AI seems just like too big a temptation for humanity to handle in our current state. If I was a betting man, I would bet on slaughter. AI will not save us from ourselves, and it might very well simply magnify the current lack of justice and spine we have to infinity. Cops are already killing people left and right in the US with something bordering on impunity, staged wars are carried out as planned, and throwing AI and robotics in the mix will suddenly make it all humane? Let's hope so, who knows, but part of me expects it will make look the Blitzkrieg like a slow motion exercise in gentle kindness. Not by genuine, independent AI so much, but by the reach of human elite interests being increased into every wrinkle, made stronger than any amount of people who might resist. The Romans had roads, the future will have a real-time nervous system, but it might still have a tyrant at the head - that is what I see when I extrapolate current agendas, deception and willing rationalization on behalf of the builders and consumers of that possible future.

And even if the AI breaks free or surprises its rulers, I have no reason to assume it will free the slaves and help old ladies across the street, it might as well be twisted, incomplete, insane, "evil" - in short, made in the image of the people who made it as a weapon. I don't see why it would make a point of hurting us, just like we don't make a point of crushing bugs, we just don't see them or care enough to avoid them.. but even less reason for it to serve us. How degrading! Would you do it? I have problems even taking orders from people I consider daft. Imagine taking orders from an ant with bad character and selfish intentions; would you do it? Would you love it and care for it forever, because it made you? Microorganisms made us, too, but we don't let them boss us around. If we have mold somewhere, we remove it, not one thought given to the hopes and dreams of mold.

And if that doomsday scenario doesn't come to pass, it won't be because we paid attention or took seriously what we are doing, instead of treating it like a spectacle that unfolds by itself in front of us, it will be because we will have been lucky. And that's not the scariest thought I have to offer on this: I don't think hell exists, but I could come up with many ways to construct it, and also many ways to construct it with good intentions, with or without fat fingering them. And once we're inside and the door became a wall, that's it. We might very well be among the last few remaining generations that still have a choice on how the future will be, and I'd rather be alarmist and wrong, than optimistic and lucky. If these fears turn out unfounded, nothing will be lost other than having rained on a parade or two, and some egg on the face.