I think, it's an mixture:

• Clickbait
• Some ethicans want to do an important role
• Hollywood movies and so on have teached us so. What could be a better source of informations to build owns worldview on it?
• Some writers hope to creat a social enviroment in which the discussion to ban the new technology starts in order to keep the jobs in their industry.
• Some political figures want to outlaw AI and found peoples and groups which are against it.

Maybe, the last point is not true at all. And the named writers, of cource, arn't full aware of their agency. Its, as often, more on a emotional ground.