Wait, is the claim that intelligence alone determines who is in control? I've certainly seen lots of examples where people were controlled by others, even though they were orders of magnitude more intelligent than those who had power.

Are the people who are trying to make AI a reality planning to give away the ability to unplug the machine it will inevitably depend upon, or give it the ability to control nuclear weapons so that it can wipe out humanity before that happens, like a bad movie script? It really does seem that ridiculous to aver that the creators of AI, if it ever comes to be, won't retain ultimate control over what it can do in the physical world.

Whatever its goals end up being, they will be aligned with Microsoft's goals if OpenAI gets there first. That's what the billion dollars is meant to ensure.