Reading back over this post, I'm slightly concerned that it comes across as a bit over-the-top – like playing around with ChatGPT led me to have some kind of religious experience or something.

It didn't. It just gave me a more visceral appreciation of the potential risks involved.

Hopefully that's clear.

That makes sense. I can see why you would get that impression.

I should clarify one other thing: having this experience hasn't made me any kind of blind or total believer in AI risk. I still have doubts and disagreements.

I just feel like I 'get' some arguments in a way that I didn't quite before. That's what I wanted to convey in the post. 

I completely agree. That's a big part of why I said this was all a little embarrassing to admit.

As you say, though, I do think an honest self-reflection can be a useful data point here.