We're just saying that AGI is an incredibly powerful weapon, and FAI is incredibly difficult. As for "baseless", well... we've spent hundreds of pages arguing this view, and an even better 400-page summary of the arguments is forthcoming in Bostrom's Superintelligence book.

It's not mudslinging, it's Leo Szilard pointing out that nuclear chain reactions have huge destructive potential even if they could also be useful for power plants.

Machine intelligence is important. Who gets to build it using what methodology is also likely to have a significant effect. Similarly, operating systems were important. Their development produced large power concentrations - and a big mountain of F.U.D. from predatory organizations. The outcome set much of the IT industry back many years. I'm not suggesting that the stakes are small.