It's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it's equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly.
The high-stakes wager isn't success vs failure in creating strong AI, it's what happens if you do succeed.
The framing here is: "What are the implications of doing nothing if you are right (about the inevitability of a malicious strong AI, in this case), compared to the implications about being wrong and still doing nothing?"
The high-stakes wager isn't success vs failure in creating strong AI, it's what happens if you do succeed.