AI is a technology with the explicit end-goal of substituting energy for people. It's not intended to benefit the common man, it's intended to benefit the capital owning classes.
I think that the perception problem with AI is not about the technology itself. It's about the famously parasitic Silicon Valley companies that are the pioneers of the technology. I can imagine a society where AI is welcomed and celebrated, but the people wielding it would definitely need to be less psychopathic than what we have over here.