One day, AI may change the world for the good of mankind. There will be peace on Earth, and Mother Nature will give us a break and stop pounding us with extreme weather.
That day is not today.
"The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Australia, India, Brazil, and two dozen other nations have issued guidance telling households to prepare for emergencies ranging from severe weather and cyberattacks to full-scale military conflict," reports the New York Sun.
Former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino urged Americans to act immediately, saying, “Get your stuff today. Please. Do it for your family.”
I guess we're all preppers now.
The warnings are being given out of an "abundance of caution." But you don't have to be a Nobel laureate to see the potential for chaos as a result of the growing threat of cyberattacks from bad actors using the latest AI models to penetrate municipal systems like water and electricity, or the fragility of our emergency services in case of a major natural disaster, or Vladimir Putin sounding more and more like he wouldn't mind going to war with NATO.
The fact is, our fabulous, wondrous, modern society is extremely vulnerable to collapse on several fronts.
Municipal systems, power grids, water treatment facilities, and financial networks rely heavily on software and digital controls. The rapid evolution of AI-driven cyberattacks by bad actors presents a constant threat to penetrate and paralyze these essential services. The sad fact is, we're in an arms race with the bad guys, needing to develop countermeasures to AI assaults and always seeming to be a step behind.
Our national-level commercial food supplies, including food in distribution centers, grocery stores, and commercial supply chains, typically span a few days to a couple of weeks of normal consumer demand if supply chains are completely cut off. "Normal consumer demand" goes out the window in a crisis as people act irrationally. A severe natural disaster, geopolitical conflict, or cyber incident in one critical shipping lane or production center can trigger cascading shortages across multiple continents. Those shortages would cause panic and hoarding. One can imagine what chaos that would create.
Modern grids tie power generation, communication, and transportation together. A failure in one sector often triggers a domino effect, quickly cutting off emergency services, fuel distribution, and digital communications. Our enemies have had years to study our vulnerabilities and will almost certainly target the weakest link in our cyber defenses.
Despite our technological advances, our day-to-day survival remains surprisingly dependent on systems that can be disrupted overnight.
Mr. Bongino additionally recommended water filtration tools, noting, “Have yourself an emergency radio, have yourself some batteries, get yourself some emergency food, get yourself a rain collection and water filtration, and get some filtration tablets.”
Britain has rolled out its own push, urging households to stock nine liters of bottled water — equal to 9.5 quarts — and three days of food. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said, “Those who can follow this advice should follow this advice,” describing it as part of a broader effort “to improve our resilience as a nation.”
Britain’s defense secretary, Wes Streeting, warned of “state-sponsored terrorism” from hostile powers targeting infrastructure, adding, “It’s really important that we ask households and businesses, are they prepared? Are they ready?”
AI industry leaders like OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, along with other AI executives, have been running "day after" scenarios for potential catastrophic AI-driven cyberattacks they expect within the next six to 12 months. The executives are concerned about the public and political backlash after such an attack, but also about how to combat the worst-case scenarios that their engineers have been warning against.
So far, we've been lucky. How long that luck will hold is anyone's guess.
Exclusively for our VIPs: Harry Houdini Died on Halloween, 100 Years Ago Today. How He Died Is Still a Mystery.
Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at PJ Media, we stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical Left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
Help us continue to tell the truth about the Trump administration and its successes. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.