We’re several weeks into a fierce debate over whether artificial intelligence (AI) will kill us all. Triggered by a spate of former workers at major AI firms coming forward to warn that a future superintelligent AI could lead to human extinction, the debate has inspired a kaleidoscopic array of views that don’t break down along neat ideological lines. Some think it’s all hogwash, either the product of ignorant hype or part of a cynical hype campaign by the industry itself. For others, convinced that the tech’s potential capabilities are no joke, they’re warnings that need to be taken deadly seriously.

In many ways, though, the debate is besides the point. It’s not that we shouldn’t try to get to the bottom of what exactly happened with the HuggingFace hacking incident, and that we shouldn’t worry about the question of rogue agents or the dangers of a future superintelligent AI that could threaten our continued existence. It’s that what we call AI has already copiously proven it carries profound danger for the human race — and is doing immense harm way before it’s even remotely close to reaching superintelligence.

Consider the fact that AI “almost started a war” between the United States and China this past spring, in the words of one source who told CNN about it. A special operations command analyst had used a chatbot to put together a report about the cargo of a Chinese ship sailing in the Middle East, which hallucinated that the vessel was carrying the components of a nuclear weapons program, prompting the US military to mobilize to intercept and board the ship, guns drawn. Military planes had even taken off for this purpose. The operation was called off after officials looked into the report and realized it was AI-generated nonsense.