Ask HN: When will the AI version of 911 happen?

#1

Post by dfps » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 12:57 PM UTC

Whether the government/other 'friendly' entities were behind, coordinated, or were oblivious to the 911 attacks, they enjoyed what 911 allowed them to do (be completely free of the limits of the Constitution on their treatment of everyone) to not want to do it again.

It lasted 25 years, which might be surprising, that Americans would give up their American-ness for that long, but they were 'patriotic' enough to accept just a single approval by Congress of a super-Unconstitutional muddy Act on a long-term basis.

It seems the authority of the Act is waning now.

The new model is AI. The threat of escaped or rouge AIs, the use by citizens of AI. A new 911-like thing would likely be in the shape of some AI event as appalling as 911.

When?

Re: Ask HN: When will the AI version of 911 happen?

#2

Post by eth0up » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC

Too soon, I think. It's the curse of exponential progress. AI has the potential to help solve the world's problems, from engineering, medicine, to philosophy. But it will be abused. And in the fight to 'secure' it, will lose much of the benefit.

You can log me for a 'big event' forecast. I think one would have to have a faith exceeding the wildest religion to expect otherwise.

It will be EXTREMELY import (critical in the strongest sense) going forward, however, to remain acutely aware of censorship and manipulation masquerading as safety.

Edit: I should add, since we are in prediction territory: Expect a lot of pressure coming down on Open Source (and compute in general). No need to bash me for saying it -- just have patience.

Re: Ask HN: When will the AI version of 911 happen?

#3

Post by bell-cot » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

You are too focused on the gov't being a "cause" of the 9/11 attacks. Vs. mere incompetence - which the gov't demonstrates its mastery of 24x7x365, year after year after year. Notice how they still seem helpless to stop catalytic converter thefts - no matter how obvious those should be in cell tower, Flock camera, and other data that they supposedly have handy.

Also, I'm not seeing how "AI" gets itself so deep into some new 9/11-ish event. The old 9/11 involved >75% Saudi nationals, 4 jet airplanes, and 2 skyscrapers - the all specific choices by the attackers. Except where it suited the government's interests - creepy machismo security for airline passengers - zero of those things became foci of major & ongoing government attention after the attack.

Re: Ask HN: When will the AI version of 911 happen?

#4

Post by eth0up » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #3

You are too focused on the gov't being a "cause" of the 9/11 attacks. Vs. mere incompetence - which the gov't demonstrates its mastery of 24x7x365, year after year after year. Notice how they still seem helpless to stop catalytic converter thefts - no matter how obvious those should be in cell tower, Flock camera, and other data that they supposedly have handy. Also, I'm not seeing how "AI" gets itself so deep into s…

...."no matter how obvious those should be in cell tower, Flock camera, and other data that they supposedly have handy......"

I think there is a lot, and I mean a LOT, of overlooked potential data here. I frequently say the same thing in a different context, eg we have the NSA, which has no impeccable track record of strictly adhering to law, yet parallel, we have extremely sophisticated narco operations running smoothly throughout America, just to name one example. Geo fencing, dozens of other, some not-even-named, technologies, and yet, corruption prevails.

And that is partly why, I worry. Was there foresight for 911? No point in answering that here. Can something bad happen despite seeing it coming? No point in answering that here.

But there is more to your comment than I think you are giving it credit for. A lot more.