They will be able to steer entire cultures and countries without ever appearing as if they were sitting in the drivers seat. This is the social control endgame playing out in front of our very eyes. Why use violence to control people when you can subconsciously persuade with bandwagonning and peer influence by tempting people into parasocial relationships with AIs you control. Expect the AIs to offer real benefits, but with hidden catches. Like how rats are killed with 10% poison and 90% tasty treats, we will be steered to our doom by exploiting our desires and weaknesses and our inability/unwillingness to take into account the future effects of our decisions today. This is nothing new, it’s just a larger, subtler, more wide reaching way of doing it.