Who or what has superintelligence manipulating humans right now? Babies and dogs are the obvious answers, cats for some. Sex is a topic for another day.
Let’s take dogs — how do they do it? They co-evolved with humans, and they induced humans to be fond of them. We put a lot of resources into dogs, including in the form of clothes, toys, advanced surgical procedures, and many more investments. In resource terms, we have far from perfect alignment with dogs, partly because you spend too much time and money on them, and partly because they scratch up your sofa. But in preference terms we have evolved to match up somewhat better, and many people find the investment worthwhile.