India, Feb. 13 -- After his blunt warning about artificial intelligence's rapid evolution went mega-viral with millions of views, CEO Matt Shumer admitted the public's reaction to his essay was "much more extreme" than he anticipated. Schumer's original essay warned that the world is entering a phase of disruption that could dwarf the pandemic's impact. In a follow-up, he emphasised that he didn't write the piece to scare people, but because he believes everyone has the right to know in advance "so they can at least spend a little time thinking about it and preparing".

"To be very, very clear: I didn't write this to scare people. I just think it's our duty (those of us in the AI space) to share what we're seeing so people at least have a...