Following the fusion money.

[hunter]

2. Some positive things will come of AI and fusion research...

... but when they do nobody in these fields will want to be associated with the current hype.

Most of the claims made for AI and fusion power are clickbait, wishful thinking, or outright bullshit meant to separate fools from their money.

At the very beginning of the 20th century my great grandfather, a California dairyman, "knew" that motion pictures and aircraft, which were then curiosities, would become important industries. He was right about that. Unfortunately, he bet on the wrong players. Fortunately, my sensible great grandmother did not let him bet everything, so she did not become a penniless widow when he died. (My wife and I both come from matriarchal families. Men do not have the final say on how the money is spent.)

As a university student I first signed onto the internet in the late 'seventies and I've been here ever since. I had no idea where the internet was going then. Fortunes have been made and lost while I've been chatting about 8 bit microprocessors, Star Trek fan fiction, telephone networks, and all the other stuff the weird and queer kids in your high school class were interested in. I'm actually glad I didn't jump in for the money, it would have distracted me from more important pursuits.

At this point I don't see how fusion is going to become a commercially viable power source. I certainly wouldn't bet the future of our civilization on it. The world is burning now. Magical fusion power plants won't save us.

Similarly I don't see how AI is going to evolve past useful idiocy.

It seems to me that most of the people selling these technologies are foolhardy optimists or charlatans.