On July 11 in San Francisco, about 200 activists marched between the offices of key AI players — OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. Their main demand is an immediate halt to training more powerful artificial intelligence models.
The movement Stop the AI Race organized the event. It is important to emphasize: the protesters are not calling for shutting down existing systems. Their proposal is to freeze the development of new models and redirect freed-up resources toward improving safety, applied solutions, and aligning AI behavior with human values. This is a pragmatic approach that many in the industry ignore in the race for parameters.
Key issues raised at the march
Participants highlighted several pressing topics: job losses, environmental damage from data centers, strain on energy systems, rising housing costs in San Francisco, and the excessive influence of tech giants. Some demonstrators called on state authorities and local lawmakers to strengthen oversight of advanced AI systems.
Strategy shift: from lobbying to politics
Former AI researcher and march organizer Mikael Trazzi stated that the movement is changing tactics. Previously, activists tried to persuade company leaders. Now their goal is to bring the issue onto the political agenda. "Protests are useful: they show that people care," Trazzi noted. The action was supported by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, as well as groups AI Action and QuitGPT.
This is the second major Stop the AI Race march. In March, a similar action gathered about 200 people outside the offices of Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, demanding a coordinated pause in development.
Context: voices for a pause
Recall that in July, former OpenAI employee Daniel Kokotajlo proposed freezing the AI race until 2040. His scenario involves an agreement between the US and China to limit the development of superintelligence. These signals are not just noise. They reflect growing anxiety within the developer community itself.
My assessment: The protesters' demands have real grounds. The AI race has gone beyond reasonable regulation. Without a global moratorium, we risk facing consequences that will be impossible to fix. Political pressure is the only lever capable of slowing this process before it is too late.