I’m not too convinced of the persuasive powers of “domain experts” either. I’m thinking about the professional persuaders like politicians. You may dislike some of them or what they stand for, but they are plenty persuasive.

It’s just that there’s a lot of them coupled with a distinct lack of unity. America has its issues like all nations I guess.

Also, intelligence does not lead directly to skill in all things. Being clever is a requirement for becoming a chess grandmaster, but it’s not sufficient on its own (by a long shot).

The power of a politician to persuade comes in part, in my opinion, from their ability to convince a voter that they represent the voter's interest. Some of this is done just through words, but a lot of it has to be represented via some kind of action, or else the voter will realize they're being fooled. I don't see a superintelligent AI gaining much ground on this factor.

I truly hope you are right.

Intelligence and expertise are are orthogonal to one's ability to persuade.

Some of the smartest people with the deepest expertise are the worst at communication.