According to multiple government agencies (“US warns about hacking effort aimed at water plants”, 8/20/26), artificial intelligence is being used to “compromise” basic American infrastructure. It’s now clear that A.I. has the power, “in the wrong hands”, to commit some drastic act of sabotage. Something very bad, something that takes lives, will happen soon.
And then what? It may be like the COVID year all over again. Panic. The stock market will plummet. Politicians will lie. “Stop A.I.!” we’ll hear, but experts will testify against experts, confusion will abound, and businessmen will insist on “keeping things open” in spite of the danger. We can even blame China again, because China’s savvy A.I. competition is goosing Silicon Valley.
But really, it’s us. It’s our little invisible friend there on the screen. Sooner or later, we’ll realize that what we’re using is, as we were warned, a threat to civilization that needs, not better passwords, not “guardrails”, but real controls.
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George Timson
Midtown
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