We are all missing the point of that letter and the broader terminator style rhetoric around AI.

Heroin dealers want some subset of their clientele to die. It's good PR. The junkies come around more thinking you've got the good stuff.

If the AI is scary, that means it's effective, that means it works. It's the fabled AI we have all grown up seeing movies about. It's not just a black box that vomits smart sounding gibberish, it's the real deal. If I'm an AI startup theres no better way to increase my valuation for an acquisition than PR circulating warning the world that what I'm making is way too powerful. The image that it will just produce idiocracy-esque Carl's Jr kiosks does not inspire suits to write 10 figure checks.