A survival institute warns data-center neighbors could be AI targets

The local costs are easier to measure

Some data centers produce a constant, high-pitched noise. Others rely on powerful diesel generators that pollute nearby air and emit greenhouse gases. New facilities may also raise electricity bills.

The report’s central claim is much less grounded in observable evidence: if a misaligned AI system emerges, it could treat people near data centers as targets because they represent human control and resistance. Miller cites former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who left the company earlier this year and drew media attention by saying the probability of AI destroying humanity exceeds 10%.

The institute argues that uncontrolled artificial general intelligence is a real threat, not science fiction, and says leading AI researchers already acknowledge they cannot reliably control such systems. Miller calls on Congress to:

A warning built around worst-case scenarios

The report extends its warning beyond data-center neighborhoods. People living near large power plants and transmission lines supplying those facilities could also be at risk, it argues, because an uncontrolled system might seek to protect and control its power sources.

The institute’s website lists other possible causes of global collapse, including “military invasions” of the United States, a nanotechnology disaster and an invasion “from space.” Its model puts the chance of collapse within a year at up to 57%.

The report also warns of “prompt strikes”: attacks by world powers intended to destroy AI systems seen as an immediate threat. Its proposed response is a military alliance involving the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and other countries.

Miller has appeared on the Fortitude Ranch Survival Community YouTube channel to discuss the possibility of an “alien invasion.” The report’s survival advice includes staying away from AI-related sites and living off the land through farming and livestock. It also recommends that rural residents arm themselves with 10-round long-barreled shotguns, which Miller believes could be used against drones and robots deployed by AI.

What the report leaves unproven

I think the report’s strongest point is not its forecast of people being hunted by an AI system. It is that the physical infrastructure behind AI already affects nearby communities, while the report offers no evidence that those communities would become targets in the scenario it describes. The speculative claim deserves scrutiny; it should not be treated as an established risk.

That distinction matters because the neighborhood concerns do not depend on an AI catastrophe. Noise, emissions and electricity costs are tangible questions, and opposition to data centers is drawing people from both sides of the US political spectrum. Even if the report’s most dramatic warning never comes to pass, those local costs remain a more immediate basis for conflict.