‘Just start shooting’: Death threats over data centers are tearing American towns apart

The handwritten warning was left at an Amazon data center construction site in suburban Virginia: A dozen pipe bombs scattered throughout the building would explode in the next half hour.

Officers rushed to the scene as workers dropped their tools and fled. Bomb-sniffing dogs prowled every corner of the site.

That April 22 message in the city of Manassas, authorities soon confirmed, was an empty threat – the latest in a string this year that has rattled the state and communities across the nation.

As thousands of new data centers have been built to fuel the booming artificial intelligence industry, escalating public resentment against both the energy-sucking infrastructure and AI itself is roiling small towns and suburban communities from coast to coast, a CNN investigation has found.

Police have been called into action to investigate dozens of threats to data centers, from bomb claims etched on bathroom walls to online incitements to “use bullets on city council members” to suggestions that protesters should “unalive” pro-development officials, according to a CNN review of more than 100 police reports filed since last year.

Aside from rare cases like an Indianapolis council member whose home was sprayed with gunfire, those threats have rarely led to actual violence – but they’ve eaten up hundreds of hours of police time, alarmed workers and inflamed communities already on edge over the projects.

That rising outrage has also inspired a growing police crackdown, including federal agencies tracking data center protests and local cops questioning vocal activists, and even filing criminal charges against critics that have later fallen apart in court.

The police records as a whole paint a vivid picture of a national backlash against the rise of data centers and AI reaching a boiling point at a moment when the debate has become a key issue threading party lines ahead of the midterm elections. They also show growing concern among law enforcement agencies about extremist groups at opposite ends of the political spectrum hopping on the anti-data-center bandwagon.

“Anti-technology extremist narratives appeal to a broad array of ideological movements – including anarchists, environmental extremists, and white supremacists – creating a common target between otherwise opposing movements,” Colorado state officials warned in an April bulletin for police agencies. A similar California memo warned in June of “a broad range of threat actors… mobilized by AI-related grievances.”

Still, some people who have been charged with making threatening comments insist they’re not extremists and do not actually wish violence upon anyone. Rather, they say they were driven to take dramatic action by rising electricity bills, environmental worries or fears of AI.

“I’m not really political,” Anthony Hinojosa, an Illinois man arrested in February over an alleged data center threat, told an investigator who interrogated him, according to police recordings. “I feel like we don’t have a vote.”

But elected officials say the reports show how the battle over data centers and AI is entering dangerous territory, where they’re fearing for their lives just for doing their jobs. Minneapolis council member Michael Rainville was left pleading in an August letter to his constituents for a more peaceful dialogue over the issue.

“Please stop the threats against me and my family,” he wrote.

In early February, police in Troy, Illinois fielded multiple calls about ominous statements on a community Facebook page.

At the time, the city had been debating whether to clear the way for a roughly 200-acre data center that backers said could create hundreds of jobs. Like similar proposals around America, the once-anodyne pitch had become hugely contentious.

Views of data centers have soured significantly this year. Nearly nine in 10 Americans say they’re more concerned than excited about the rise of these facilities, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS found in September.

Amid that debate, Troy officials confronted a tirade on Facebook: “My hypothesis is no one would want to be shot at so just start shooting the people involved and it’ll never be built,” Hinojosa, a 33-year-old lawn-care businessman, commented beneath a post about the proposed data center.

When a user asked if he was really suggesting violence, Hinojosa responded, “for sure,” screenshots of his posts show.

Later that day, officers knocked on his door.

“You’re being placed under arrest for making terroristic threats,” an officer said.

“I think people are taking things out of context,” Hinojosa told the authorities. He said he had been upset about the proposed data center’s potential strain on electricity and water supply, but he insisted he would not hurt anyone and his words had been misconstrued.

“Over a misunderstanding you are literally going to ruin my life,” he said. “It just feels like the mayor of Troy and the city council, they’re just not really listening to the public.”

Hinojosa, who described himself in police recordings as a moderate Republican, now faces felony charges for intimidation and harassment through electronic communication. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer declined comment, citing an upcoming trial.

Hinojosa’s case is one of about 70 among the police reports CNN reviewed that include allegations of threats, intimidation or planned attacks – a collection showing a striking range of anger at AI infrastructure that at times has spilled into serious claims of potential violence.

Dozens of additional police reports detail other security concerns, including scuffles at county meetings, calls for police patrols at local officials’ homes and confrontations with data center staff. Some even describe explicit calls for assassinations.

“Time to use bullets on city council members. Nothing is going to change until some of them are dead,” stated a post in August after officials green-lit site plans for a major data development in Westlake, Texas.

“I’ll just shoot you in the face,” read another message described in a Salt Lake County, Utah case.

In the Utah case, the alleged sender was charged in June with stalking and making multiple threats of violence along with other charges. His target, someone apparently linked to the project but not identified in court records, told police the ordeal led him to temporarily relocate his family and spend about $14,000 on home security. The case is pending.

In Bell County, Texas, authorities arrested a man who allegedly threatened officials in an online screed that referenced the murder of a UnitedHealthcare CEO by Luigi Mangione. “We can always unalive them. Luigis Unite!” the comment stated beneath a post about local data center construction. His case is also ongoing.

Police did not charge anyone in many of the incidents that clearly crossed the line into violent rhetoric. In some cases, threat recipients declined to press charges, such as in Archbald, Pennsylvania, where police heard about a voicemail in which a man threatened to “grab” the skull of a staffer for a data center development company and “smash it.”

The man later apologized for “being an a**hole,” according to a police report.

Abaca Press/Sipa USA/AP

Other cases appear to have no suspects. That includes more than a dozen bomb threats at data center construction sites in multiple states including Iowa, Maryland, Utah and Virginia.

In April, thousands of workers evacuated one of those sites in Eagle Mountain, Utah after someone wrote inside a portable toilet that a bomb had been set in a nearby building. One month later, authorities were called to the same site for the same reason and again found nothing, according to incident reports.

The messages are often simple. “Bomb a data center,” read graffiti found at a Maryland construction site in June. “The bomb is ticking you better find it,” read another found at a Virginia site.

The sheriff’s office in Loudoun County, Virginia – dubbed the data center capital of the world – has received reports of at least nine such bomb threats in less than a year, records show. A representative for an electrician business even complained to deputies that the frequency of bomb scares angered his colleagues because they were losing wages with the regular closures.

“While each of these is handled with great urgency, the sheriff’s office is fortunate to have methods that enable us to quickly determine if it is a hoax,” Thomas Julia, spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff, told CNN, adding that the expected prominence of data centers in upcoming elections “will likely mean more calls for service.”

The flood of angry and at times frightening blowback to data centers has left police and lawmakers on edge around the country, CNN’s investigation found. Authorities have issued sweeping warnings of the potential for attacks, monitored activists and at times even arrested citizens for seemingly innocuous comments against data centers and those who support them.

A West Virginia agency that analyzes threats, for example, shared a report about “potential risks” associated with a website that maps data center projects across the country. An office within the Department of Homeland Security forwarded the report to other agencies, records show.

In June, US Capitol Police alerted law enforcement in an email about protests by Humans First, a group chaired by Amy Kremer, a conservative activist who helped organize the rally that preceded the January 6 Capitol riot. Kremer condemned the violence of the riot and was not accused of any criminal wrongdoing. The Capitol Police email in June noted her new group had coordinated “several demonstrations… targeting AI Data Centers.”

Asked about that email, Kremer said, “That is unbelievable,” noting that her group is peaceful. “It is our right as Americans to protest, and we don’t condone violence.”

Kremer argued the real threats authorities should scrutinize are AI and the companies behind it. “We do not have to give Big Tech a blank check and let them cram their technology and their infrastructure down our throat,” she said.

Separately, among the incident reports obtained by CNN are more than a dozen that describe situations with no specific calls for violence by suspects that still triggered investigations or arrests.

Police in El Paso, Texas questioned at least three data center opponents, including a woman who wrote to the city council, “we need to clear you out lol.” She later told investigators she simply wanted the officials voted out of office. In another case, a special unit looked into a woman who called a city representative and left a voicemail saying, “I hope you rot in hell and die.” She told investigators she had been repeatedly denied the opportunity to speak to the official about a local data center.

“She feels threatened because I said ‘I hope’ – that is ridiculous. I’m threatened by the data centers,” the woman told El Paso police officers, according to body camera video.

“We have to take everything serious,” an officer said.

Separately, authorities in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania charged a man with making “terroristic threats” after he reportedly said he wanted local officials who supported a data center dead. A judge dismissed the case.

Harley DeLander, a 28-year-old from Dixon, Illinois – a quaint community best known as the hometown of former President Ronald Reagan – learned while scrolling social media in May that a nearby plot of land had been promoted as a potential data-center site.

Fearing what such infrastructure could do to the region’s water and electricity costs, DeLander lashed out at the head of a county association that had touted the land for development.

“If he cared about his kids, he wouldn’t be actively trying to ruin the world they are being raised in,” DeLander posted on Facebook, along with a call for a protest at the man’s house and a statement that he “needs to have someone put the fear of god in him and his family. Make him scared to close his eyes at night.”

The man, a former state representative, alerted Dixon’s police chief to DeLander’s comments, according to a police report. Authorities then charged DeLander with multiple felonies, including intimidation and cyberstalking.

DeLander told CNN he then lost his job and was forced to wear an ankle monitor. Shocked and confused by the case, he retained an attorney and crowdsourced funds for his defense.

After legal negotiations, he pleaded guilty to one petty charge lower than a misdemeanor and agreed to complete a court-ordered program to get the more serious charges dismissed.

“I don’t regret my position toward data centers,” DeLander told CNN in an interview, noting that he received an outpouring of support from other data center opponents after his arrest and used the notoriety to further publicize his concerns.

Officials in his city and county have stated there are currently no data center proposals under consideration for development, though DeLander fears that could still change.

“I was an idiot for saying those things online but sometimes you have to be an idiot for someone to hear you. Sometimes you’ve got to do something foolish to get the word out,” DeLander said.

The state’s attorney on the case, Charles Boonstra, declined to discuss specifics since the matter technically remains pending. Boonstra said DeLander was not prosecuted “because of his data center opposition; it was because of his incitement to violence and threats of violence.”

Many Republican and Democratic politicians have pivoted away from backing data centers ahead of the midterms, but others – namely President Trump – have doubled down on their development. Amid these political debates, some extremism researchers warn that the risk of violence may be growing.

They point to multiple would-be attacks that have already been disrupted.

Last year, police in Ashland City, Tennessee arrested a man who said he purchased materials to burn down an xAI facility in Memphis; he told police he had gotten “wrapped up in politics” and “jumped too far down the deep end,” according to an incident report.

In June, authorities charged multiple people in connection to an alleged plot to attack a UFC event at the White House. The mother of one of them told law enforcement the group held grievances including “data centers taking up all the water in communities,” and some of them also discussed attacking data centers in California, according to court records.

Future attackers may not belong to any groups or even have exposure to the type of extremist content typically associated with threats, said Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, an associate professor at the Royal Military College of Canada who has studied AI-grievances and political violence.

“You don’t need to be reading Ted Kaczynski to be radicalized against AI. You can simply listen to Sam Altman and Elon Musk talk for a couple minutes and that’s probably enough to radicalize some people,” Veilleux-Lepage said.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Rainville, the Minneapolis council member who asked constituents to stop threatening him, told CNN he had not even taken a public stance on a proposed data center when he received intimidating messages. Those notes suggested they knew where he lives and what kind of car he drives.

He said much of the opposition has falsely lumped all data centers together and presumed any development will inevitably drive up electricity costs and strain water supply.

“You’re comparing apples and oranges, but that shows you the emotion, not only here in Minneapolis but around the country,” Rainville said.

这张手写的警告被留在弗吉尼亚州郊区亚马逊数据中心的建筑工地：散落在建筑物各处的十几枚管状炸弹将在接下来的半小时内爆炸。

工人们丢下工具四散奔逃，警察迅速赶到现场。搜爆犬在现场的每个角落都进行了搜寻。

当局很快证实，4 月 22 日在马纳萨斯市发出的那条信息是空洞的威胁——这是今年一系列令该州和全国各地社区感到不安的事件中的最新一起。

CNN 的一项调查发现，随着数千个新的数据中心建成，以满足蓬勃发展的人工智能行业的需求，公众对耗能基础设施和人工智能本身的不满情绪日益高涨，正在席卷全国各地的小城镇和郊区社区。

据 CNN 对去年以来提交的 100 多份警方报告的审查显示，警方已采取行动调查数十起针对数据中心的威胁，从在浴室墙上刻下炸弹威胁到在网上煽动“用子弹射杀市议员”，再到建议抗议者应该“杀死”支持开发的官员。

除了像印第安纳波利斯市议员的家遭到枪击这样的罕见案例外，这些威胁很少导致真正的暴力事件——但它们却耗费了数百小时的警力，惊吓了工人，并激怒了已经对这些项目感到不安的社区。

日益高涨的愤怒情绪也促使警方加大了镇压力度，包括联邦机构跟踪数据中心抗议活动、地方警察盘问公开表达意见的活动人士，甚至对批评者提起刑事诉讼，但这些诉讼后来在法庭上被驳回。

警方记录整体上生动地描绘了全国范围内对数据中心和人工智能兴起的强烈抵制，而此时，这场辩论已成为中期选举前夕跨越党派界限的关键议题，并已达到白热化阶段。记录还显示，执法机构日益担忧政治光谱两端的极端组织纷纷加入反数据中心的行列。

科罗拉多州官员在4月份发给警方的公告中警告说：“反科技极端主义论调迎合了包括无政府主义者、环保极端分子和白人至上主义者在内的各种意识形态运动，使原本对立的运动有了共同的目标。” 加州一份类似的备忘录在6月份也发出警告，指出“各种各样的威胁行为者……正因人工智能相关的不满而被动员起来”。

尽管如此，一些被控发表威胁性言论的人坚称他们并非极端分子，也并非真的希望任何人遭受暴力。相反，他们表示，是不断上涨的电费、对环境的担忧或对人工智能的恐惧驱使他们采取了这些过激行为。

据警方录音显示，伊利诺伊州男子安东尼·希诺霍萨（Anthony Hinojosa）在接受审讯时告诉调查人员：“我其实不关心政治。我觉得我们没有投票权。”希诺霍萨因涉嫌威胁数据中心于今年2月被捕。

但民选官员表示，这些报告表明，围绕数据中心和人工智能的争论正进入危险地带，他们仅仅因为履行职责就感到生命受到威胁。明尼阿波利斯市议员迈克尔·雷恩维尔在8月份写给选民的一封信中恳求各方就此问题展开更和平的对话。

他写道：“请停止对我及我家人的威胁。”

2月初，伊利诺伊州特洛伊市警方接到多起报警电话，称一个社区Facebook页面上出现了不祥的言论。

当时，该市正在讨论是否要为一座占地约200英亩的数据中心扫清障碍，支持者称该数据中心可以创造数百个就业岗位。与美国各地类似的提案一样，这项原本平淡无奇的计划也引发了巨大的争议。

今年以来，人们对数据中心的看法急剧恶化。美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）委托SSRS公司在9月份进行的一项民意调查发现，近九成美国人表示，他们对这些设施的兴起感到担忧而非兴奋。

在这场争论中，特洛伊市官员在 Facebook 上遭到猛烈抨击：“我的假设是，没有人愿意被枪击，所以干脆开始枪杀相关人员，这样它就永远不会建成了。”33 岁的草坪护理商人希诺霍萨在一篇关于拟建数据中心的帖子下评论道。

从他的帖子截图中可以看出，当有用户询​​问他是否真的在暗示暴力时，Hinojosa 回答说“当然”。

当天晚些时候，警察敲响了他的家门。

“你因发出恐怖威胁而被捕，”一名警官说道。

“我觉得人们断章取义了，”希诺霍萨告诉当局。他说，他当时确实对拟建数据中心可能对电力和供水造成压力感到担忧，但他坚称自己不会伤害任何人，他的话被误解了。

“就因为一个误会，你们简直要毁了我的生活，”他说。“感觉特洛伊市市长和市议会根本不听取公众的意见。”

希诺霍萨在警方录音中自称是温和派共和党人，如今他面临通过电子通讯进行恐吓和骚扰的重罪指控。他已否认所有指控。他的律师以即将开庭审理为由拒绝置评。

希诺霍萨的案件是 CNN 审查的约 70 起警方报告之一，这些报告都包含威胁、恐吓或计划袭击的指控——这些报告显示，人们对人工智能基础设施的愤怒程度令人震惊，有时甚至演变成严重的暴力指控。

数十份其他警方报告详细记录了其他安全问题，包括县级会议上的冲突、要求警方在地方官员住所巡逻以及与数据中心工作人员的对抗。有些报告甚至描述了公开呼吁暗杀的情况。

“是时候用子弹射杀市议员了。除非他们中有人死了，否则什么都不会改变。”这是8月份的一篇帖子中的一段话，此前官员们批准了德克萨斯州韦斯特莱克市一个大型数据中心的选址计划。

在犹他州盐湖县的一起案件中，另一条信息写道：“我会直接朝你脸上开枪。”

在犹他州的这起案件中，涉嫌发送威胁信息的男子于6月被控跟踪骚扰、多次发出暴力威胁以及其他罪名。他的目标人物显然与该项目有关，但法庭记录中并未透露其身份。该目标人物告诉警方，这场磨难迫使他暂时举家搬迁，并花费约1.4万美元用于家庭安保。此案目前仍在审理中。

在德克萨斯州贝尔县，警方逮捕了一名男子，该男子涉嫌在网上发表长篇大论，威胁官员，并提及路易吉·曼吉奥内谋杀联合健康保险公司首席执行官一案。他在一篇关于当地数据中心建设的帖子下评论道：“我们总能让他们死而复生。路易吉们团结起来！”目前，此案仍在审理中。

在许多明显越过界限、使用暴力言论的事件中，警方并未对任何人提出指控。在某些情况下，威胁信息的接收者拒绝提起诉讼，例如在宾夕法尼亚州阿奇博尔德，警方接到一条语音留言，一名男子在留言中威胁要“抓住”一家数据中心开发公司员工的头骨并“砸碎它”。

据警方报告，该男子后来为自己“当混蛋”的行为道歉。

阿巴卡出版社/Sipa USA/美联社

其他一些案件似乎没有嫌疑人。其中包括在爱荷华州、马里兰州、犹他州和弗吉尼亚州等多个州的数据中心建设工地发生的十几起炸弹威胁事件。

今年四月，犹他州鹰山的一个工地发生爆炸，数千名工人因有人在移动厕所内写下附近建筑物内放置炸弹而撤离。一个月后，当局因同样的原因再次被召至同一地点，但据事件报告显示，他们仍然一无所获。

这些信息通常很简单。“炸毁数据中心”，这是六月份在马里兰州一处建筑工地发现的涂鸦。“炸弹正在倒计时，你最好找到它”，这是在弗吉尼亚州一处工地发现的另一条涂鸦。

弗吉尼亚州劳登县（被誉为“世界数据中心之都”）的警长办公室记录显示，在不到一年的时间里，他们至少接到了九起此类炸弹威胁报告。一家电工公司的代表甚至向警员抱怨说，频繁的炸弹威胁令他的同事们感到愤怒，因为频繁的停工导致他们损失了工资。

“虽然每起事件都会得到紧急处理，但幸运的是，警长办公室拥有能够让我们迅速确定其是否为恶作剧的方法，”劳登县警长发言人托马斯·朱利亚告诉 CNN，并补充说，数据中心在即将到来的选举中预计将占据重要地位，“这可能意味着需要更多服务”。

CNN的调查发现，针对数据中心的愤怒且有时令人恐惧的强烈反弹，令全美各地的警察和立法者都感到不安。当局已就潜在的袭击事件发出全面警告，监控活动人士，有时甚至逮捕那些看似无害的、针对数据中心及其支持者的言论的公民。

例如，西弗吉尼亚州一家负责分析威胁的机构分享了一份关于一个全国数据中心项目地图网站“潜在风险”的报告。记录显示，国土安全部的一个办公室将这份报告转发给了其他机构。

6月，美国国会警察通过电子邮件向执法部门通报了“人类优先”（Humans First）组织的抗议活动。该组织由保守派活动人士艾米·克雷默（Amy Kremer）担任主席，她曾协助组织了1月6日国会骚乱前的集会。克雷默谴责了骚乱中的暴力行为，并未被指控任何刑事犯罪。国会警察在6月的电子邮件中指出，她的新组织协调了“多起针对人工智能数据中心的示威活动”。

当被问及那封邮件时，克雷默说：“这简直难以置信。”她指出，她的组织一直坚持和平抗议。“作为美国人，我们有权进行抗议，我们绝不容忍暴力。”

克雷默认为，当局真正应该审查的威胁是人工智能及其背后的公司。“我们没必要给大型科技公司开一张空白支票，任由他们把技术和基础设施强加给我们，”她说。

另外，CNN获得的事件报告中有十几份描述了嫌疑人没有明确呼吁使用暴力的情况，但这些情况仍然引发了调查或逮捕。

德克萨斯州埃尔帕索市警方至少讯问了三名数据中心反对者，其中包括一名曾致信市议会并写道“我们需要把你们赶下台，哈哈”的女子。她后来告诉调查人员，她只是想让这些官员下台。另一起案件中，一个特别小组调查了一名致电市议员并留言“我希望你下地狱”的女子。她告诉调查人员，她曾多次被拒绝与该官员讨论当地数据中心的问题。

根据执法记录仪视频显示，这名女子告诉埃尔帕索警方：“她因为我说了‘我希望’就感到受到威胁——这太荒谬了。我才感到受到数据中心的威胁。”

“我们必须认真对待每一件事，”一名警官说道。

另据报道，宾夕法尼亚州坎伯兰县当局指控一名男子犯有“恐怖威胁罪”，因为他扬言要杀死支持数据中心的当地官员。法官驳回了此案。

来自伊利诺伊州迪克森的 28 岁青年哈雷·德兰德（Harley DeLander）——迪克森是一个古朴的小镇，以前总统罗纳德·里根的故乡而闻名——在五月份浏览社交媒体时得知，附近的一块土地被宣传为潜在的数据中心选址。

德兰德担心这样的基础设施会给该地区的水电成本带来怎样的影响，于是猛烈抨击了曾大力宣传这块土地用于开发的县级协会的负责人。

“如果他真的关心他的孩子，就不会积极地试图破坏他们成长的世界，”德兰德在脸书上发帖说道，同时呼吁大家在该男子家门口举行抗议活动，并声明他“需要有人让他和他的家人感到恐惧。让他晚上不敢闭上眼睛。”

据警方报告，这名男子曾担任州议员，他将德兰德的言论告知了迪克森的警察局长。随后，当局以多项重罪指控德兰德，包括恐吓和网络跟踪。

德兰德告诉CNN，他随后失去了工作，并被迫佩戴电子脚镣。他对这起案件感到震惊和困惑，于是聘请了律师，并通过众筹筹集辩护资金。

经过法律协商，他承认犯有一项比轻罪轻的罪行，并同意完成法院指定的计划，以撤销更严重的指控。

“我不后悔我对数据中心的立场，”德兰德在接受 CNN 采访时表示，并指出在他被捕后，他得到了其他数据中心反对者的广泛支持，他利用这种名气进一步宣传了自己的担忧。

他所在城市和县的官员表示，目前没有正在考虑开发的数据中心提案，但德兰德担心这种情况仍有可能改变。

“我当时在网上说那些话真是愚蠢至极，但有时候你必须做傻事才能让别人听到你的话。有时候你必须做一些蠢事才能把信息传播出去，”德兰德说道。

该案的州检察官查尔斯·布恩斯特拉拒绝透露具体细节，因为案件在技术上仍处于待决状态。布恩斯特拉表示，德兰德被起诉并非“因为他反对数据中心建设，而是因为他煽动暴力和威胁使用暴力”。

在中期选举前，许多共和党和民主党政客都已不再支持数据中心建设，但也有一些人——尤其是特朗普总统——加倍支持数据中心的发展。在这些政治争论中，一些极端主义研究人员警告说，暴力风险可能正在增加。

他们指出，多起潜在攻击已被挫败。

去年，田纳西州阿什兰市警方逮捕了一名男子，该男子称他购买了材料，准备烧毁孟菲斯的一家 xAI 设施；据一份事件报告显示，他告诉警方，他“卷入了政治漩涡”，并且“走得太远了”。

今年6月，当局指控多人密谋袭击白宫举办的UFC赛事。据法庭记录显示，其中一名嫌疑人的母亲告诉执法部门，该团伙不满的原因包括“数据中心占用了社区的所有水资源”，他们中有些人还讨论过袭击加利福尼亚州的数据中心。

加拿大皇家军事学院副教授 Yannick Veilleux-Lepage 曾研究过人工智能不满和政治暴力，他表示，未来的攻击者可能不属于任何组织，甚至可能没有接触过通常与威胁相关的极端主义内容。

“你不需要读泰德·卡钦斯基的文章才会对人工智能产生激进看法。你只需要听萨姆·奥特曼和埃隆·马斯克的几分钟谈话，这可能就足以让一些人变得激进，”维勒克斯-勒帕热说道。

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明尼阿波利斯市议员雷恩维尔曾要求选民停止威胁他。他告诉CNN，在收到恐吓信息之前，他甚至还没有就拟建数据中心项目公开表态。这些信息表明，他们知道他的住址和座驾。

他表示，许多反对者错误地将所有数据中心混为一谈，并假定任何发展都必然会推高电力成本并加剧供水压力。

“你这是在拿苹果和橘子做比较，但这确实反映了人们的情绪，不仅在明尼阿波利斯，而且在全国各地都是如此，”雷恩维尔说道。