> you are taking the rationalist argument to be

I think they say P(doom) is high number[0]. Or in other words, AGI is likely to kill us. I interpret this as "if we make a really intelligent machine it is very likely to kill us all." My interpretation is mainly biased on them saying "if we build a really intelligent machine, it is very likely to kill us all."

Yud literally wrote a book titled "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies."[1] There's not much room for ambiguity here...

[0] Yud is on the record saying at least 95% https://pauseai.info/pdoom He also said anyone with a higher P(doom) than him is crazy so I think that says a lot...

[1] https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/