Opinion: Fear of AI as a Political Tool, Not Just Tech Angst

Opinion: Fear of AI as a Political Tool, Not Just Tech Angst

In a recent opinion piece for the Mexican newspaper El Universal, columnist Hugo Alfredo Hinojosa examines how anxiety over artificial intelligence has become entangled with politics. Writing in his “Cronografías” column, Hinojosa suggests that the fear many people feel about AI isn’t purely a reaction to the technology’s capabilities—it’s also something that political actors find useful to cultivate or exploit.

The piece frames AI-related fear as a kind of convenient narrative: one that can be used to justify certain policies, distract from other issues, or consolidate power, rather than simply reflecting genuine public concern about job losses, misinformation, or loss of control over machines. Hinojosa’s argument taps into a broader global conversation about how governments and institutions talk about emerging technology, often blending real technical risks with political messaging aimed at specific audiences.

While the column doesn’t dive into technical specifics of AI systems, it invites readers to think critically about who benefits when fear of new technology dominates public discourse—and to question whether that fear is proportionate to actual risks or serves other purposes.

Because this is an opinion piece, its central claims reflect the author’s own analysis rather than reported facts. To explore Hinojosa’s full argument and reasoning, read the original column at El Universal.

Source: La IA, el miedo que conviene: tecnología y política (eluniversal.com.mx). English version produced with AI assistance.

Image: deltaMike, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).