Protesters March on OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind Demanding AI Development Pause

Protesters took to the streets of San Francisco again, marching between the offices of OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind, calling for a pause in the development of more powerful AI.

Saturday’s demonstration, organized by Stop the AI ​​racewent beyond AI safety to include concerns about job losses, AI’s impact on the environment, San Francisco’s rising housing costs, and the growing influence of big tech companies.

The march, organized by former AI researcher Michaël Trazzi, called on leading AI companies to stop training new groundbreaking AI models while keeping existing systems available. Protesters urged companies to focus research on AI safety and fine-tuning until stronger safeguards are in place, while some demonstrators also called for stronger local and national regulations.

Trazzi said the group’s goals have changed since the first protest in March.

“I think earlier this year I wasn’t thinking so much about increasing political salience as about convincing CEOs,” Trazzi said. Declutter. “I think I’ve gotten an update toward CEOs actually listening, given the many blog posts and some conversations I’ve had with one of them. I also think having protests is helpful to show that people care.”

The demonstration follows an earlier Stop the AI ​​Race protest in March, when around 200 people walked between the offices of Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI to call for a coordinated pause in groundbreaking AI development. Since then, the group has continued its campaign through protests and public advocacy.

Trazzi said he was encouraged by the support the movement has received since.

“I was pleasantly surprised that I had the NUHW [National Union of Healthcare Workers] support the protest and repost it on their social media,” he said. “I was also surprised by how quickly other groups in the Bay Area, like AI Action, were aware and able to work with us. I am also very grateful to QuitGPT for their help in organizing this.”

OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Declutter.

Organizers said they plan to continue calling for an international pause in cross-border AI development, while encouraging lawmakers to provide stronger oversight of advanced AI systems.

The protest comes as concerns about the safety of AI are gaining increasing attention.

In May, OpenAI introduced new ChatGPT safety features designed to better detect signs of self-harm and violence during conversations, as the company faced lawsuits and investigations over claims that its chatbot mishandled dangerous interactions.

In June, the Donald Trump administration ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 models due to potential cybersecurity risks. Earlier this month, the United Nations’ first independent scientific panel on AI concluded that scientists cannot rule out “catastrophic harm” as AI technology advances faster than scientific understanding and government oversight.