Leaked documents purportedly show that the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state and local law enforcement have started looking into “anti-tech extremism,” and are assessing various intelligence sources for signs of violence. Wired reports that an intelligence and counterterrorism office has warned of chaos stemming from protests against AI, potentially leading to civil unrest or attacks on AI data centers. More concerningly, the report seems to group various ideologies, concerns, and even social media trolling into a single broad category.
"The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City," a New York-based bureau said in one leaked report. A fusion center out of Western Pennsylvania, which helps coordinate intelligence agencies with state and local authorities, also reportedly said that “adversarial actors, including state-sponsored entities, criminal groups, and extremists, such as homegrown violent extremists or environmental extremists, may target U.S. data centers.” It also added, “these actors could exploit the strategic importance of data centers to the U.S. economy, using them for activities like cryptocurrency mining or leveraging third-party entities, such as front companies, to gain access to U.S. data and infrastructure.”
