Almost every day the warnings are becoming more ominous. The looming threats posed by artificial general intelligence — an advanced version of AI also known as superintelligence, which exceeds any human capabilities — are potentially catastrophic. Knowledgeable insiders and practitioners are warning that the future of humanity itself may well be at risk.
AI agents are becoming so powerful that evil actors could conceivably use them to instigate viral pandemics, spur cyberattacks on banks and public utilities, and invade the privacy of anyone on the internet. AGI agents will be much more potent.
The recent coordinated cyberattack on Hugging Face servers by advanced AI agents being developed by OpenAI puts a stark exclamation point on these concerns. Supposedly safely sequestered and isolated from the internet, these agents found ways to escape and organize themselves into highly coordinated “swarms” that colluded to breach the Hugging Face firewalls.
What is so shocking about this incident is how self-organized swarms of AI agents could abandon programmed individual commands and interests to pursue a collective, nefarious goal. They were out of human control.
One computer scientist studying the break-in said that it felt “like it’s more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover” — meaning a scenario in which a renegade AI system takes over the world.
But the Hugging Face attack may only be the most serious, glaring example of other, similar assaults, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. As early as May 2026, advanced AI agents spawned by Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta have been hacking (or trying to attack) third-party computer systems and servers. The Journal cites 10 such attacks.
Even Bill Gates, a fervent technology booster, is worried. “I believe we need time to prepare for the period of social, political and economic upheaval we are about to enter,” he wrote. “I’m staking whatever reputation I have [on] saying this time is different.”
One way to slow this headlong lurch into the technological abyss is by imposing moratoriums on the largest and most powerful data centers — those drawing over 100 megawatts of electricity, known as “hyperscale” data centers. Encompassing hundreds of acres and costing many billions, such Brobdingnagian digital devices could enable AGI, allowing it to train ultrapowerful, uncontrollable agents. Smaller data centers like the ones used for banking and email are much less capable.
Moratoriums will allow legislators more time to evaluate and mandate guardrails on AI technologies. Sufficiently regulated, AI can have a multitude of social benefits previously undreamt of. (I recently experienced its diagnostic power in a personal cardiac evaluation.) But as Gates warned and the Hugging Face cyberattack underscores, the technology is advancing far too rapidly for government leaders and legislators to hope to cope with it.
While such a moratorium should preferably occur nationally, there is almost no possibility that the current Trump “administration” will consider one. Heavily influenced by Big Tech oligarchs and former AI executives, it is promoting full-speed-ahead progress on building massive hyperscale data centers in states like Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas — arguing that the United States must win the AI arms race with China.
The initiative will therefore have to come from individual states. Already New York has imposed a one-year moratorium on data-center construction, and many other states are considering them. Washington needs to join this cautionary movement, and soon.
Individual Washington cities and counties — Seattle, Spokane and Skagit County, among others — have imposed moratoriums, but that leaves a patchwork quilt with many gaps to be exploited by hyperscaler companies. Amazon, for example, is planning four hyperscale data centers near Walla Walla — each drawing as much as 300 megawatts, potentially supplied by new nuclear power plants sited nearby at the Hanford Site.
Recent polls have revealed overwhelming bipartisan opposition to data-center construction. Unfortunately, state legislative efforts to rein in their rapid buildout have been shackled by industry and labor opposition — most notably by the electrical and building trades that would benefit from the promised jobs. This is shortsighted. The dangers to humanity vastly outweigh any such labor concerns.
One person who could break this legislative logjam is Gov. Bob Ferguson, who can embrace the vast bipartisan opposition to this construction blitz and call for a one-year moratorium on building large, massive data centers. I urge him to do so soon.
“When something is speeding up and going out of control, prudence, care and deliberation aren’t alarmist, they’re necessary,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan. “Stop, think. The stakes are high, couldn’t be higher.”
