AI: The backlash turns violent

For some, stopping AI means using physical force

Protesters against AI data centers in Michigan
A protest against data centers in Michigan
(Image credit: Jim West / UCG / Universal Images Group / Getty Images)

“If chatbots were as all-knowing as we’ve been led to believe, they should have seen the backlash to artificial intelligence coming,” said Martin Baccardax in Barron’s. Now it’s here. Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, was carrying an anti-AI manifesto when he allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s $27 million San Francisco mansion earlier this month. Two days later, a man and a woman in their 20s were arrested for allegedly firing a gun outside Altman’s house. Someone fired 13 bullets into Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson’s home the previous week, leaving a note reading, “No Data Centers.” Gibson had supported a new AI data center. AI is barging “into public life with a pace and aggression unlike any of its technological predecessors.” Its creators warn that AI will eliminate half of white-collar jobs in five years, concentrate even more money and power at the top, and consume vast amounts of water and electricity. Just 26% of Americans see AI as a positive force. Is it any surprise the backlash has “turned violent”?

On social media, many people justified the attacks against Altman, said Clare Duffy in CNN.com. If the “commoditization of what it means to be human is allowed to continue,” wrote one Reddit user, violence “will be much more common.” Some activists deemed Moreno-Gama a hero, comparing his alleged attack to Luigi Mangione allegedly murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. Before he was charged with attempted murder, Moreno-Gama himself posted about “Luigi-ing tech CEOs.”

The “Stop AI” movement is being driven by young people who’ve already experienced technology taking over their lives, said Eva Roytburg in Fortune. But the backlash is spreading across America’s heartland as communities reject massive data centers, citing concerns about water usage and utility bills. Americans have stopped or delayed $64 billion worth of data centers in two years. Maine is set to become the first state to ban them. In Festus, Mo., voters just ousted local politicians who approved a data center. These developments “signal an escalation in the blowback,” said Brian Merchant in his Substack newsletter. AI executives have been warning that they’re building a tool so powerful it will automate millions of jobs and “might literally end humanity,” but seem shocked we’re finally listening. “Ordinary people are saying: Wake up. We have good reason to hate AI.” The backlash will likely only “get worse from here.”

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