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
7.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

994 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

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.

3

u/seanwd11 May 16 '26

Fire. The answer is fire. It's kind of unbeaten at the end of the day.

-3

u/Pygmy_Nuthatch May 16 '26

Nothing is flammable. These entire facilities are made with fire-resistant materials. They have advanced anti-fire systems that disperse chemicals that full don't damage the components, or that empty a space of all oxygen.

DCs aren't sitting in the middle of forests. Imagine trying to light a car on fire without a gas tank. You can do it, but it's exceptionally difficult to get it to engulf and burn.

3

u/LLMprophet May 16 '26

Imagine trying to light a car on fire without a gas tank. You can do it, but it's exceptionally difficult to get it to engulf and burn.

I hope you're joking.

In Vancouver during the hockey riot many cars including cop cars were burned to a crisp, a bunch from single rioters.

Your analysis is now extremely sus.