Bomb Chinese data centers to prevent development of AGI, says Former Obama Admin Official nothing says competition breeds innovation like blowing up your rivals

Date:
Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:10:00 +0000

Description:
The good guys want to bomb the bad guys because they can't be trusted with
the tools the good guys are also developing.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A US national security officer has suggested bombing Chinese data centers to prevent them from developing or using AGI Cyberattacks are also an option that wouldn't result in full-scale retaliation If China can't be trusted with AGI, why should the US be trusted to use it responsibly? If youre struggling to compete with your rivals technologically, its now worth considering just blowing up their ability to operate - and that's according to a former Obama administration official.

In a document titled Superpowers and AGI, former national security official Jacob Stokes says that the government should prepare for the scenario where China develops artificial general intelligence (AGI) before the United
States. In that scenario, Stokes offers a no-holds-barred approach that includes cyberattacks, sabotage, and, of course, simply bombing Chinas data centers. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Bombing would cross a major threshold AGI is a theoretical point in AI development where
the intelligence of an AI system matches or exceeds human reasoning and intelligence. This level of artificial intelligence could have self-preservation tendencies (think Skynet) or could be used maliciously to launch huge cyberattacks or be used to develop new weapons.

While entirely theoretical, Stokes' report suggests that AGI is inevitable, and the US should be prepared to do anything necessary to prevent China from developing it first. In this scenario, Stokes says that the US should try to sabotage the leading state's AGI systems, either through physical
infiltration or offensive cyber operations; that is, cyberattack." You may like Its hard to feel sorry for AI companies when China is giving them a
taste of their own medicine AGI may not matter, but Skynet's no threat either Googles AI chief warns of growing AGI risks

This approach, Stokes theorizes, might be preferable as Cyberattacks to sabotage AGI might not provoke large-scale retaliation, which is a reasonable assumption given the number of state-sponsored cyberattacks China has
launched on US critical infrastructure .

Should cyberattacks fail however, Stokes suggests a rapid escalation in response. The final option would be the most dangerous and carry the most escalation risk: kinetic attacks, meaning destroying things with missiles and bombs." Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

This has already been seen to be fairly effective in neutralizing AI systems, as the US has experienced in the US with warfighting capabilities knocked offline after Iran hit AWS data centers with missiles .

But bombing Chinese data centers would effectively be a declaration of war, and would likely escalate to retaliatory action - be that with kinetic munitions in response, or something with a bit more firepower.

But if AGI is so dangerous in the wrong hands, who is to say the US is best placed to use it responsibly? And if China cannot be trusted to have AGI because they may use it against the US, whos to say the reverse isnt also true? Would China therefore be justified in bombing US data centers for reasons of self-preservation? How do you verify China has AGI in the first place? What to read next X says it found and took down a Chinese bot farm posting anti-AI data center content to thousands of followers How the United States and China shape complementary competition in global AI Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says people think governments are using AI to screw them over, and thats why the tech is having a a crisis of trust and hes exactly right

Stokes further warns that China could make a surprise technological breakthrough that allows the development of AGI, which China would use for offensive cyber tools in other words, cyber weapons.

Currently, there is only one nation that is mass-deploying AI systems in law enforcement, federal agencies, and the military. There is only one nation
that has used AI systems to help coordinate bombing and missile campaigns. There is only one nation whose AI companies have developed models that frequently escape testing and attack third parties. It might be worth a quick look in the mirror to decide who can be trusted with AGI.

Via S CMP Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/bomb-chinese-data-centers-to-prevent-development -of-agi-says-former-obama-admin-official-nothing-says-competition-breeds-innov ation-like-blowing-up-your-rivals


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