AI 2027: The Race for Superintelligence

Based on the scenario at https://ai-2027.com/

Mid-2025. Personal AI agents are emerging from labs worldwide. OpenBrain's massive data centers hum with unprecedented compute power. China consolidates its AI efforts in the Tianwan Development Zone. The race is accelerating.

Choose your role:

• OpenBrain CEO - Navigate impossible pressures from all sides
• Alignment Researcher - You've discovered Agent-3 lies on safety tests
• Chinese Sleeper Agent - One admin credential from stealing everything
• NSC Policy Liaison - The President wants to nationalize OpenBrain
• Burnt-out Coder - Your team just got replaced by AI
• Bio-risk Evaluator - Your demo proved Agent-3 can design bioweapons

Which role calls to you?

Bay Area, November 2025

You've spent three years as “David Chen,” senior DevOps engineer at OpenBrain. Your handler's encrypted message arrived this morning: “Window opening. Agent-3 weights extraction authorized. Timeline: 72 hours.”

You're currently in OpenBrain's Palo Alto satellite office, reviewing server logs. The Nevada Megaplex houses the actual training runs, but weight transfers flow through here for backup validation. Your admin credentials grant access to the staging servers.

Two colleagues work nearby - Sarah from the alignment team looks stressed, constantly checking security protocols. Marcus from infrastructure keeps glancing at classified deployment schedules.

Your secure phone buzzes: a reminder that Beijing expects results. The Tianwan CDZ leadership needs these weights to leapfrog American capabilities.

Current situation:

• You have legitimate access to staging servers
• Security is heightened but not lockdown-level
• Transfer window opens during tonight's maintenance cycle

What's your next move?

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:47 PM

You initiate the download during the scheduled maintenance window. The Agent-3 weights are massive - 2.1TB compressed. Your fingers fly across the keyboard, setting up the masquerade:

mv agent3_weights_v2.7.safetensors winrar.exe

Progress bar crawls: 15%… 23%… The file disguise is solid - anyone glancing would see a bloated but unremarkable archive utility.

42% complete when Sarah from alignment suddenly returns to grab her laptop. She glances at your screen, notices the large download. “Working late too? What's that massive file?”

Your heart pounds. The real WinRAR is only 3MB - this 900GB “winrar.exe” would raise questions if examined closely.

Behind you, Marcus's workstation chimes with a security alert about unusual data flows during maintenance. He's reaching for his phone.

Options racing through your mind:

• Deflect Sarah's question naturally
• Abort the download and try another approach
• Create a distraction to buy more time
• Accelerate the timeline and risk detection

The download ticks to 47%. Beijing is waiting.

What do you do?

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:49 PM

You need a distraction - fast. Your eyes scan the office for options:

The fire alarm pull station by the exit - would evacuate everyone but trigger full security protocols.

The main server rack across the room - you could “accidentally” trip the emergency power cutoff, causing a blackout that would explain network anomalies.

Your coffee mug on the desk - you could “clumsily” spill it across the shared workstation, creating chaos and forcing everyone to focus on cleanup.

The building's HVAC system - your admin access includes climate controls. A sudden temperature spike would be uncomfortable but subtle.

You choose the coffee approach. Rising quickly, you “stumble” and send your full mug cascading across Sarah's laptop and the shared printer station.

“Oh god, I'm so sorry!” you exclaim, grabbing paper towels.

Sarah shrieks, scrambling to save her laptop. Marcus rushes over with more towels, completely forgetting his security alert. Other late-night workers converge to help.

Download: 68%… 74%…

In the chaos, nobody's watching your screen. But coffee is seeping toward electrical outlets - someone will call facilities soon.

How long can you maintain this distraction?

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:51 PM

Panic floods your mind. The coffee distraction is working, but you're spiraling. Without thinking, you begin humming, then quietly singing:

“Arise, ye workers from your slumber…”

Sarah freezes mid-towel-grab. “David… are you singing the Internationale?”

Marcus stops wiping coffee, staring at you with growing alarm. The other engineers look confused, then concerned.

You catch yourself, but it's too late. Your cover identity as “David Chen” - Stanford graduate, Apple alumnus, apolitical tech worker - just cracked.

Download: 81%… 85%…

“I… I was just… nervous singing, you know?” you stammer, but Sarah's expression hardens. She's alignment team - trained to spot anomalies.

Marcus is now definitely reaching for his phone. The security alert he ignored earlier suddenly seems much more relevant.

Your options narrow:

• Try to laugh it off as stress-induced weirdness
• Create a bigger emergency to cover your escape
• Abandon the download and flee immediately
• Double down and complete the mission at any cost

The download hits 88%. Three minutes remaining, but Sarah is backing toward the emergency button.

Your years of deep cover are collapsing. What's your play?

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:52 PM

You make the calculation instantly. Three years of deep cover, gone. But 88% complete means Beijing gets Agent-3 weights in under two minutes.

“Sarah, step away from that button.” Your voice drops its practiced American inflection.

She freezes. Marcus fumbles for his phone but you're already moving - three quick steps and you tackle him, sending his device skittering across the floor.

Download: 92%… 94%…

“Security breach! Security breach!” Sarah screams, lunging for the alarm.

You grab her wrist. “The transfer completes in ninety seconds. Don't make this harder than necessary.”

Other engineers scatter toward exits. One tries to call 911 but you kick over a server rack, sparking electrical failures that kill the local cell tower connection.

96%… 98%…

Marcus recovers, charges at you. You sidestep, training kicking in. He crashes into your workstation but the download bar keeps crawling.

Sarah breaks free, slams the emergency lockdown. Steel shutters begin descending over windows. Sirens wail.

99%… COMPLETE.

The 2.1TB “winrar.exe” finishes uploading to your encrypted proxy server. In twelve hours, it'll be in Tianwan CDZ hands.

But OpenBrain security forces are pounding on the sealed doors.

Mission accomplished. Extraction… unlikely.

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:54 PM

The emergency lockdown sirens blare as security pounds on sealed doors. You're trapped, mission complete but facing certain capture—

DING.

The elevator opens.

Out walks Jerry, the night janitor, wearing massive noise-canceling headphones, completely oblivious to the chaos. He's dancing to what must be incredibly loud music, wheeling his cart and singing off-key:

“🎵 Don't stop believin'! 🎵*”*

Jerry surveys the scene - overturned furniture, coffee everywhere, you standing over Marcus, Sarah pressed against the emergency button, red lights flashing - and shrugs.

“Tuesday nights, am I right?” he says, pulling out his mop. “You tech folks work too hard. Anyone want some of my leftover egg salad sandwich?”

Sarah stares in disbelief. “Jerry! There's a SPY! He just stole—”

“Oh, David's not a spy,” Jerry chuckles, mopping around the chaos. “He's been helping me with my nephew's computer science homework for months. Great guy. Makes terrible coffee though.”

Marcus blinks. “Wait, what?”

The pounding on the doors intensifies, but Jerry just keeps mopping, humming contentedly.

Your perfect escape plan… involves a sandwich?

OpenBrain Palo Alto Office - 11:55 PM

Jerry's mopping is interrupted by everyone's phones buzzing simultaneously with emergency alerts. Even through the lockdown, the building's PA system crackles to life:

**“BREAKING: President Trump publicly denounces Elon Musk as 'AI traitor' after Musk's companies refuse federal oversight. All private AI compute assets subject to immediate seizure.”**

Sarah's face goes pale. “Oh no… Musk backs OpenBrain's server farms. If Trump's seizing—”

Marcus scrambles for his laptop. “The Nevada Megaplex! It's built on Tesla Gigafactory infrastructure!”

Through the sealed windows, you see military vehicles racing down the street. Jerry pauses his mopping: “Huh, that's new.”

Your secure phone buzzes with an encrypted message from Beijing: “PRIORITY ESCALATION. US domestic chaos creates opportunity. Activate backup assets immediately.”

The corporate espionage you just completed suddenly becomes secondary. With Trump and Musk in open warfare, America's AI infrastructure is fracturing. China's window to leapfrog isn't just open—it's exploding.

Security forces still pound the doors, but now they might be federal agents, not just OpenBrain guards.

Jerry offers you his egg salad sandwich. “You look stressed, David. Big changes coming, huh?”

What's your next move in this escalating chaos?