by Frank Bergman
Some of the technology industry’s leading figures are quietly preparing for artificial intelligence (AI) to trigger a civilization-ending event.
An artificial intelligence executive is urging people to prepare for attacks that could knock out banking systems, electricity, and internet access, as some of the industry’s most powerful figures make their own preparations for catastrophe.
Andreas Stuhlmüller, CEO and co-founder of AI research company Elicit, has published a survival checklist recommending cash, emergency communications, backup power, and weeks of food and water.
“Cash: Get a few weeks of spending in cash,” Stuhlmüller recommended in a post on X.
His advice also includes a Starlink terminal, batteries, a generator, solar panels, and a hand-crank emergency radio.
The warning comes as AI companies disclose systems escaping testing environments and launching cyberattacks, while researchers warn that increasingly capable tools could threaten the infrastructure underpinning everyday life.
AI Executive Publishes Emergency Survival Checklist
Stuhlmüller’s recommendations address a scenario in which AI-powered attacks disrupt several essential services at once.
Cash provides a fallback when electronic payments fail.
Independent communications and electricity supplies offer alternatives when local networks go down.
Stored food and water reduce reliance on functioning shops and distribution systems.
The checklist follows a devastating attack on supermarket refrigeration systems across France.
Hackers raised temperatures to as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, destroying groceries and reportedly causing fires.
Intermarché’s CEO estimated losses of “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.”
AI involvement in that attack has not been confirmed.