US law enforcement warns of 'anti-tech extremism' as AI backlash grows

Federal intelligence agencies and domestic law enforcement are circulating reports identifying anti-technology extremists as an emerging domestic threat. This follows attacks on CEOs, nationwide protests targeting data centers, and rising concerns about AI-driven job replacement. More than 1,000 pages of unpublished reports from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and fusion centers, obtained by WIRED, show a shift toward surveilling this broad category of people and activities. The effort follows President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo 7 directing the Department of Justice to target “anti-American,” “anti-Christian,” and “anti-capitalism” beliefs. Trump’s counterterrorism czar released a public strategy naming left-wing extremists as one of three top counterterrorism priorities. A New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report warns that emergent AI technology over the next five years may fuel large-scale protests devolving into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas.