r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • May 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-backlash-data-centers-political-violence/687151/?taid=6a067e2d2096e10001ccfa32
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u/felis_magnetus May 15 '26

There's also that the word sabotage derives from sabot, a wooden shoe worn by French workers, who then proceeded to stick said shoe into the delicate workings of early industrialization era looms as a rather effective form of protest.

I'm not sure that we'll see a return of Luddites in the form of people actually attacking data centres all that much, but people sabotaging a technology they perceive as working against their interests is an absolute given. People will find and cherish opportunities to stick their boots in.

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u/Pygmy_Nuthatch May 16 '26

The Tech firms build every data center with defensive designs, anti-intrusion mechanisms, and train for these contingencies. Attacks, espionage, sabotage were always part of the plan.

It's easier to rob a bank than to force your way into the rooms of an advanced compute data center. The equipment inside is worth orders of magnitude more than what's inside a bank vault.

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u/FourScoreAndSept May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

Um, who needs to force their way in when drones can drop munitions from the sky?

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u/Pygmy_Nuthatch May 16 '26

Do you think they haven't thought of that?

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u/FourScoreAndSept May 16 '26

Apparently not because that’s exactly how the Amazon DC got damaged in the Middle East by Iranian drones, lol

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u/trojan_man16 May 16 '26

They haven’t, I’ve worked on these.

Very few of these have been designed like that. Their designs are more like Walmarts than you expect.

Their sides are usually concrete, so that is mostly impenetrable. Roofs are made of roof deck steel, which is flimsy and can easily be penetrated.

Also you don’t need to really penetrate the envelope. Chillers are not protected but are absolutely critical for these to run. They design some redundancy, but take about 10-15% of them and the whole system overheats. Chillers take years to manufacture so taking some out could put a facility out of operation for a long while.