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We know there are fears that you can't sneeze without being monitored these days, but now, a new fear has been unlocked amid claims that the FBI and other agencies are watching us for 'anti-tech extremism'. While that sounds like a pretty serious offense by any standards, there are alarming reports that people who've been openly protesting artificial intelligence could soon be landing on the government's radar.
It's easy here to call out the obvious concerns with AI, and if it's not the idea that it's coming for our jobs or that we're losing human interaction as we fall in love with machines, there's plenty of apocalyptic foreshadowing out there that it could trigger World War III or simply eradicate the human race.
While there are plenty of AI supporters out there, it feels like there are just as many detractors. The thing is, those against seem to be more happy to poke fun at the situation with ridicule.
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According to WIRED, this could soon bite you in the backside, with 1,000 pages of unpublished reports from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and fusion centers being obtained by the outlet and leading to some pretty concerning reveals.
In September 2025, President Donald Trump signed the National Security Presidential Memo 7 in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. This sweeping federal strategy gave improved powers to investigate organizations accused of promoting political violence. Although you might not think of posting memes mocking AI as falling under this umbrella, WIRED suggests otherwise.
A New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report mentions AI critics and appears to coin the term 'anti-tech extremism': "The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City."
WIRED notes that anti-tech extremism doesn't appear in any publicly available Department of Homeland Security or FBI domestic extremism reports or guides.
80 fusion centers are said to be dotted across the USA, serving as a go-between for federal intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement, even going as far as monitoring potential attacks on data centers.
Spencer Reynolds, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, warned: "Suspicious activity reports are incredibly unreliable, often about vague or innocent behavior, issued under permissive standards. These reports, often received in large volumes, allow officers to inject their own biases and see what they want to see in the facts."
As the author of Stop the Machines: The Rise of Anti-Technology, extremism researcher Mauro Lubrano said he's not surprised that his work was flagged by fusion centers, adding: "While anti-technology violence is unacceptable, it should not be used as an excuse to securitize AI and emerging technologies, thereby silencing those who are critical of the current trajectory."
Responding to WIRED, the FBI said: "The FBI investigates individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security. We have no additional comment.”
The Department of Homeland Security didn't respond to WIRED's request for comment.
In a final warning from Reynolds, he mused that the government could use this kind of surveillance to ensnare everyone from peaceful data center protestors to anyone who simply has a bone to pick with AI: "As people continue to organize for a better future, we're likely to see more surveillance and criminalization of this opposition, just as we have of Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and environmental movements in recent decades."
