By Investigative Reporter, Linda Sutter – July 20, 2026
Today I saw a new business close to Christina’s restaurant in fact the address is 983 3rd street. So being of a curious nature, I walked in. The office was modern light and airy. As I walked in further I was greeted b y the proprietor of the new business.
So I asked, what is the name of this business and his reply was, it’s a secret. Alrighty then, I said to myself, I love secrets, especially when the secret can’t be disclosed. Shortly there after, I attended the city council meeting. At the end of the meeting I asked Eric Wier what the name of the new business in town was. Hum Labs.
Well that’s a start. So I googled Hum Labs which turned out to be an entity registered out of Delaware and lists the Crescent City address and a San Francisco Address. I was able to find the articles of Corporation as well as other documents. One line within the articles of corporation described the following “Research and development (R&D) company studying organic alignment.” So I immediately thought, “Cow Shit?” and then found out I was way off.
When a Research and Development Company uses those particular words it means they are an Artificial Intelligence Safety and Research Lab. So what does that mean? An R&D firm studying organic alignment is researching how to make AI systems naturally cooperate with humans as peers.
The name Hum Lab is a deliberate play on words. “Hum” stands for both Human (representing human-centric AI alignment) and the biological “hum” of a living cooperative ecosystem working in perfect sync. And of course there is much more to discuss in regards to all of this. But here is the concern:
Why are they choosing a rural town compared to a city? This is speculative at this point because Mr. Goldstein declined to talk about anything. But it is believed with uncertainty that Hum Lab is likely setting up in Crescent City for one of the following practical reasons.
Massive Data Centers and Cheap Power
All labs require immense computing power to run their simulations. Rural towns often offer exactly what they need to build data centers; Grid capacity with proximity to major power substations, hydroelectric dams or green energy sources. Lower Costs cheap and vastly lower electricity rates than San Francisco and Cooling Access, Nearby water sources (which we do not have this year) or naturally cold climates that reduce the cost of cooling massive server racks. Additionally, they need Physical Isolation. A rural town provides empty land, open skies, and private yards to test how machines navigate and cooperate without risking public safety or city liabilities.
