It can be used to vastly empower the surveillance state and manipulations (propaganda/marketing). It can also be used in automating drone strikes (murder). It's a tool to further empower the owning class and consolidate power upwards letting a smaller number of people project more power. I believe ai is also being used as a proxy so government and corporations can deny accountability. It has some actually good uses in science but I don't think that's where the interest lies.

It's 4ir shit (4th industrial revolution). AI has been sold as the next industrial revolution in production and governments are sincerely bought into the idea that it needs to be implemented into all aspects of the economy in order to keep up with opponents doing the same.

They see populations reluctant to embrace it as the reason for lacking the productivity games it's supposed to provide when in reality the technology just does not provide those productivity gains outside of specific niche things like healthcare where AI can definitely play an excellent role in patient diagnosis and pharmacy.

They don't realise they've been lied to yet. Governments will be last to realise.

Rich people imagine AI will allow them to finally fulfill their dream of accumulating value without having to pay a worker. It doesn't actually work that way, but like all capitalists they're dumb idealists.

They need you to use it to keep their investments sound.

They believe Marc Andreessen when he says

We believe any deceleration of AI will cost lives. Deaths that were preventable by the AI that was prevented from existing is a form of murder.