Something remarkable is happening in the world of technology’s most powerful figures. The same individuals who champion progress, innovation, and the promise of artificial intelligence are quietly building fortresses against an imagined apocalypse. Beneath their talk of “sustainable abundance” lies a contradictory impulse: the urge to retreat from the very world they are shaping. Mark Zuckerberg’s sprawling estate in Hawaii, complete with underground shelter and self-sufficient energy systems, is more than an eccentric indulgence. It is reflection of the unease that runs through the highest echelons of the tech elite.

Sam Altman has mused about taking refuge in remote corners of the world if global catastrophe strikes, while Ilya Sutskever reportedly joked that a bunker might be needed before releasing the next great leap in machine intelligence. These anecdotes might seem outlandish, yet they speak to a shared anxiety: that the systems they are building could one day spin beyond human control. This phenomenon........

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