Executives at leading AI firms, including Anthropic and OpenAI, are privately conducting red-team exercises to manage anticipated public and political fallout from a major AI disaster. Industry insiders expect a large-scale incident, potentially a cyberattack disrupting critical infrastructure like financial services and power grids, within the next six to twelve months. While OpenAI states it conducts preparedness drills without viewing such an event as inevitable, most top researchers believe a significant accident is unavoidable. Current contingency planning prioritizes educating members of Congress to influence post-disaster legislation. Insiders anticipate that Democrats may push for restrictive measures following upcoming midterm elections, including proposals to ban superintelligence, pause advanced AI development, and establish emergency "kill switches" for sophisticated models.