The cynicism (in my case, and probably others') comes from remembering self-driving cars, blockchain, crypto, the millennial internet hype, and previous AI hype. Smartphones have arguably made life worse for many people too, judging by skyrocketing mental illness.

Edit: oh, and Uberisation (workforce casualisation), and AirBNB. Enshittification all round.

They might be right this time, but the prior has to be this is yet another hyped nothingburger, or more enshittification.