s much as Silicon Valley is all-in on AI, the rest of the world isn’t nearly as enthusiastic.
On Tuesday, a WIRED report found that the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and other agencies are sounding the alarm about anti-technology extremism as concerns mount over AI-powered job displacement and protests rise against the construction of AI data centers. As a result, these agencies are closely surveilling news related to these sentiments.
In one of thousands of documents viewed by WIRED, the New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau claimed that AI could cause "large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity."
Another document, from an agency in Western Pennsylvania, claimed that adversarial actors and extremist groups may target US data centers and generally "exploit the strategic importance of data centers to the US economy."
It’s the latest signal that AI sentiment isn’t matching the heightened expectations of tech elites. Two recent Gallup polls find that Americans' opinions towards AI are largely negative:
- In May, a poll related to data centersfound that an average of 7 in 10 Americans opposed the construction of AI infrastructure in their region, largely due to environmental impacts and quality-of-life concerns. - And in April, a poll of people ages 14 to 29 foundthat excitement about AI dropped by 14 percentage points since 2025, with many reporting that they don’t want to use AI but feel they must to keep their jobs.
And it makes sense why people have such negative associations with the tech. Almost every week, a new study or forecast is published claiming that AI could fundamentally disrupt the global economy, eliminate jobs, and hinder our ability to think for ourselves. Data centers, similarly, have a bad reputation due to their potential environmental impact, energy demand and impact on water supply.
Our Deeper View #
The grand AI utopian vision tech leaders paint about the future will not be possible without large-scale adoption by the broader public. But that adoption will not happen if sentiment towards the tech doesn’t increase. For the narrative to improve, people need to feel they’re not being forced to use a technology that threatens to replace them. It’s why enterprises should think carefully before blaming AI for layoffs or forcing the tech on their employees. Almost universally, people resent being coerced into change. And when they feel they have no agency, it breeds the kind of extremism that US agencies are now tracking more closely.