It is already being used for unethical purposes and has been for over a decade. The current technology has been around for a while, at least in terms of capability.
The reason why some AI services like ChatGPT are “freely” available to the public is mainly for the data collection needed to further develop their large language models to get a competitive advantage over the competition. Add in mass surveillance on top of that, the DOD aren’t fools.
In addition to that there’s an incredibly massive PR and advertising push from billionaires and venture capital.