This interaction nicely illustrates why so many Americans sound hopeless when talking about these developments. We can't even get our fellow citizens to do anything about the school shootings, our incredibly expensive healthcare, the homelessness crisis, or really anything else. Instead we are surrounded by conservative reactionaries who view "let's stop dumping cyanide into the town pond" as a communist plot to steal their religion.
So yeah, when people around here look at "AI" and all the harm it's already doing, they don't any hope that regulations will be put in place before more harm is done.