In a dramatic escalation of concerns surrounding the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, activists have launched hunger strikes outside the offices of leading AI companies Anthropic and DeepMind, demanding a pause in development.
Guido Reichstadter, 45, has been protesting outside Anthropic’s San Francisco headquarters for over a week, abstaining from food in an effort to compel the company to address his anxieties regarding its AI projects. He conveyed his intentions to Business Insider, stating his commitment to the hunger strike until his concerns are acknowledged and addressed.
Reichstadter articulated his demands in a message posted on the online forum LessWrong, imploring Anthropic’s management, directors, and employees to “immediately stop their reckless actions, which are harming our society and to work to remediate the harm that has already been caused.”
His primary request involves a complete cessation of work on frontier AI development. Reichstadter personally delivered a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on the first day of his protest, urging him “to stop developing that technology and to do everything in his power to stop the race that he’s participating in.”
Reichstadter’s protest centers on halting the progression toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and the even more potent Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). AGI refers to AI systems capable of performing any intellectual task a human can, while ASI represents a hypothetical stage exceeding human intelligence across all domains.
“Experts are warning us that this race to ever more powerful artificial general intelligence puts our lives and well being at risk, as well as the lives and well being of our loved ones,” Reichstadter stated, emphasizing the potential existential threats posed by unchecked AI development. “They are warning us that the creation of extremely powerful AI threatens to destroy life on Earth. Let us take these warnings seriously.”
Reichstadter is the founder of Stop AI, an organization advocating for a permanent ban on AGI/ASI development through non-violent civil resistance. The group aims to prevent human extinction, mass job displacement, and other potential adverse consequences. Reichstadter also told BI that he was previously arrested for chaining shut the doors of OpenAI’s offices, with his case scheduled for trial this month.
Inspired by Reichstadter’s actions, Michael Trazzi, a 29-year-old former AI safety researcher from France, has initiated a similar hunger strike outside DeepMind’s London headquarters. Trazzi, who has been without food for over three days, is calling on DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis to publicly commit to halting the release of further frontier models if other AI labs follow suit.
“If enough of those leaders say it publicly, then you get global coordination around a pause,” Trazzi explained, emphasizing the need for collective action among leading AI developers.
These protests echo earlier calls for a pause in AI development. In 2023, an open letter signed by over 1,100 individuals, including prominent tech figures such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and Elon Musk, urged AI labs to suspend training on advanced AIs for at least six months to allow for the development and implementation of safety protocols. However, this plea was largely ignored by the AI community.
As Reichstadter continues his vigil outside Anthropic, sustained by water, electrolytes, and multivitamins, and Trazzi maintains his hunger strike in London, the activists hope their actions will spark a wider conversation about the ethical and existential risks associated with unchecked AI advancement and compel industry leaders to prioritize safety and responsible development.
