AI and ML are vast, sophisticated fields of study. Increasingly people are realising that innovations in these areas will have an outsized influence in their daily lives. But they lack the mental capacity or time to invest in these subjects to be able to speak about them coherently. In their perception only the "nerds" can talk about these subjects and demand to be taken "seriously".

Thankfully the bar to be recognised as a "nerd" is very low indeed. You only need to have seen some TV like Battle Star Galactica, or movies like Terminator, Ex Machina, or Transcendence (starring Johnny Depp) to be considered a Nerd. You also might have to read a "hard" sci-fi novel, but most people haven't so you just have to say that you have, to claim a higher level of the uh.. operating thetan.

Now all you need to be really taken seriously is a "sympathiser" who has a PhD or maybe just hangs around in a college campus to lend credence to your fears. And for the academic, there is a lot of money to be made, and influence to be gained if you are the one that this crowd approaches for credibility. Its even better if you actually believe in this drivel.

Thats what I think of Eliezer Yudkowsky.