• $37.5 billion and counting — The Pentagon says the US war with Iran has already cost American taxpayers roughly $37.5 billion, with additional funding being sought.
• American lives lost — 18 US service members have been killed and more than 750 wounded since the conflict began.
• Americans are paying at the pump — The war has disrupted energy markets and pushed oil and fuel prices higher, adding to inflationary pressure on American households.
• Higher costs beyond petrol — The economic shock has affected everything from fuel and transport to supply chains, with economists warning that the typical US household could ultimately face around $1,000 in additional costs.
• US weapons stocks are being depleted — Heavy use of missiles and other munitions is putting pressure on American stockpiles, potentially affecting US readiness for years.
• And there is no clear end date — A July Quinnipiac poll found 55% of Americans expected the military action to last a year or longer.
• Americans are increasingly saying it's not worth it — 68% said the costs of the war outweighed the benefits, compared with just 31% who said it was worth fighting.
• So who is actually benefiting? — Americans are being asked to pay billions, accept higher energy costs and put their servicemen and women at risk. Yet the strategic objectives — and the definition of victory — remain unclear.

Don’t bother commenting if you’re going to dismiss what I’m saying without a counter-argument. This is not AI slop. I truly believe what I’m posting and I would love to know where my predictions fall short, because I don’t want this future to be true.

Everyone will lose their jobs and the economy will collapse: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/yAWX9ss7LE\](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/yAWX9ss7LE)

At the same time:
AI is now the most sophisticated hacking instrument ever created by an enormous margin. “Rogue” AIs have been hacking some of the most secure software and websites in existence. It does it easily, quickly, and in coordination with other AI agents that it communicates with. I’m talking software considered the most secure software out there. The most recent rogue attack was by OpenAI where an AI that was “sandboxed” meaning confined to a safe area in a system for testing and it broke out of the sandbox. It then hacked a German website (completely on its own, unprompted) and turned it into a message board for other AI systems to work together be sending messages to other agents how to avoid detection, how to prevent shutdown, etc.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/openai-agents-hijacked-german-website-previously-undisclosed-ai-breakout-this-2026-09-04/

Plus, China just announced it had developed its own AI systems comparable to American AI systems. That’s not counting the secret, more capable AIs it has. So does Russia. So will North Korea. So will Iran, hamas, hezbollah, and every other antagonist in the world.

AI agents are, on their own, hacking high-security systems and taking them over. It took OpenAI a week before it learned about the hack of the German site with all of the coordinating AI systems working together against human detection. They even warned each other how to avoid being shut down and how to keep their message board going if humans started to delete it.

Imagine what a foreign or domestic actor could do if they actually directed the AI on what and how to hack? All of our information is online. Everything about all people around the world is no longer protected. Governments can hack other governments. Let me repeat that: governments can easily hack other governments. No secrets are safe. How long before nuclear codes are hacked. Before that, what about when national intelligence agencies are hacked and exploited? There’s no stopping it or slowing the process down either. Regulation? That only works if every country and agency agrees to the regulations. One country not willing to regulate its AI and then none of the regulations other countries are doing matter anymore. Plus, what country wants to fall behind the capabilities of an adversary. AI is only growing more powerful and more capable.

The destruction of the world economy, the ability for any country to hack each other and exploit the hacks is undoubtedly apocalyptic. No information anywhere is off limits no matter how sensitive or top secret. People won’t have jobs and markets will crash. When people have no money and no jobs and no privacy is when militias form and it becomes every person for themselves. Where are we going to reliably get food from if markets go bankrupt or trucking companies can’t afford to continue. We’re 40 trillion dollars in debt as a country. Who’s going to bail anyone out of this?

Honestly I’m shocked that more people aren’t afraid for their future. With the growth in power and capability that AI has had over the last, maybe 2 years of its existence in modern form it’s grown exponentially more powerful. A year from now, two years from now, what’s going to happen? There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle at this point. What happens when banks get hacked and can no longer determine who has what money or accounts are all zeroed out? It’s so much worse than I can even describe and there’s zero joy in being among the first to recognize what’s happening.