I'd press it twice, but I would much more like an 'undo' button for the last decade until we've figured out how we are going to deal with mass unemployment and mental issues as a result of people no longer seeing (1) a future and (2) their sense of self worth as related to having a career erased, and finally how to ensure that the least scrupulous actors are not going to be the ones that hold the keys to these very powerful devices.

Note that voting in the poll is not voting for the poll.

Autumn is nigh

It's too late. An "AI winter" won't protect you from AI used in military deployment, or set-back the agentic coding that is causing job churn. Pressing the button would just come with a different set of AI-related consequences.

Slowed progress would almost exclusively and disproportionately reward privately-owned AI services. Without downward competitive pressure, the AI market would ossify against public interest and exacerbate the disinformation crisis by making it more subtle.

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