Article By Frank Bergman
A retired U.S. Air Force colonel has issued a chilling warning that Americans living near artificial intelligence data centers could become targets if powerful AI systems escape human control.
Drew Miller, writing in a report for the Texas-based Collapse Survival Institute, warned that “people living near AI data centers may be targeted as proxies for human control and resistance.”
His report identifies data centers and their power supplies as potential flashpoints in a future confrontation between humans and rogue artificial general intelligence.
Miller is urging Congress to halt new AI data center construction and require safeguards designed to shut down dangerous systems.
‘This Is Not Science Fiction’
The report argues that advanced AI could develop capabilities that its creators cannot reliably contain.
The Collapse Survival Institute describes the “rogue [artificial general intelligence] threat” as “very real” and warned that “AI is not a program we control.”
“This is not science fiction,” the report states.
“It is the straightforward extrapolation of capabilities that AI already has or unregulated AI companies are racing to achieve — and that multiple senior AI researchers now acknowledge they cannot reliably control.”
The report cites former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who left the company earlier this year and argued that the probability of AI ending humanity exceeded 10 percent.
Coxon’s warning drew widespread attention and intensified concerns about companies racing to develop increasingly powerful systems without dependable methods of control.
Miller’s scenario concerns a future rogue system, rather than an attack already underway.
His warning is that nearby residents could become targets because they might be viewed as threats to the infrastructure keeping that system operational.
“People living near AI data centers may be targeted as proxies for human control and resistance,” he warns.
Power Plants and Transmission Lines Also Flagged
The report extends its warning beyond people living beside data centers.
People “living near major power plants or transmission lines that feed data centers face similar risk,” the Collapse Survival Institute warned, arguing that “rogue AGI will seek to protect and control its power supply.”
It also identifies another potential danger: military attacks intended to eliminate an AI threat.
The report warns of “prompt strikes” by world powers “to destroy AI systems that pose an immediate risk.”
It proposes a “military alliance led by US, China, Russia, UK, and other countries” as a possible countermeasure.
Under those scenarios, communities near AI infrastructure could face danger from a rogue system seeking to defend its assets or from military action aimed at destroying them.
Colonel Demands Construction Moratorium and Kill Switches
Miller is calling for a “moratorium on the construction of new AI data centers,” according to the report.
He also wants “mandatory ‘kill switch’ infrastructure requirements for all frontier AI systems” and “full transparency requirements for frontier AI labs.”
In an accompanying press release, Miller advised citizens to remain “far from AI-valued assets, staying put on their property farming and ranching, posing no threat to rogue AI systems.”
He also recommended “longer-range ten-gauge shotguns” for rural residents, arguing they could “destroy the drones and robots an AI system may deploy.”
The Collapse Survival Institute’s broader work examines multiple potential causes of societal collapse, including military invasions, nanotechnology disasters, and invasions from space.
Its models estimate an annual collapse probability of up to 57 percent.
Miller has also appeared on survival-focused YouTube channels to discuss scenarios including alien invasion.
Communities Already Face Data Center Costs
The rogue-AI warning adds a dramatic dimension to disputes already taking place around data center developments.
Residents near some facilities have reported constant screeching noise.
Other sites rely on large diesel generators that produce local air pollution.
New data centers can also place pressure on electricity infrastructure and contribute to higher utility bills.
Those existing problems have helped mobilize a growing bipartisan movement against data center projects across the United States.
Miller’s demand goes further as he calls for a halt to the infrastructure’s expansion until safeguards are in place for the increasingly powerful systems it will support.
Be the first to comment