As AI Surges, So Do Threats Against Execs

Tech's AI leaders aren't just talking about existential risk anymore—they're hiring bodyguards. The Wall Street Journal reports that threats against artificial-intelligence executives and facilities have spiked, with security firm Liferaft recording a sevenfold jump in online menaces aimed at AI chiefs and data centers between late February and May. In one April incident at Anthropic, a man slipped into the lobby with an envelope for a top executive and said he had to warn that the exec was "going to be killed," days after an alleged Molotov cocktail attack on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's home. Police in San Francisco have fielded multiple threat reports tied to Anthropic and OpenAI.

Writers Lindsay Ellis, Zusha Elinson, and Tina Li detail how companies are reacting: ramping up 24/7 protection, hiring armed guards, discouraging logo gear, and quietly expanding security for executives' families. Big players like Palantir, Oracle, and Salesforce have sharply increased executive-protection spending as public alarm over AI's impact on jobs and daily life grows. One AI CEO says that when workers are told their jobs will vanish, "people go for the pitchfork." For the whole scope of the backlash—and how the industry is bracing—read the full piece in the Wall Street Journal.