PauseAI x Pull the Plug: AI Safety March
About Event
PauseAI UK is joining Pull the Plug, Assemble and other groups for the first-ever coalition march of AI safety and ethics grassroots groups. This will be the first time that a range of organisations with different concerns and perspectives on AI come together around shared goals. We also expect it to be the largest protest to date focused specifically on AI safety and governance.
There will be testimonies from people already affected by AI systems and speeches from researchers and technologists who work closely with the technology. At the end, we will hold an assembly to reflect on public concerns about AI and what responsible development should look like. The march will be non-violent, legal, and coordinated with the police to ensure it is accessible and family-friendly.
PauseAI UK's Demand
We do not yet know how to safely develop advanced AI systems. Despite this, companies are investing billions of dollars to scale these systems as quickly as possible, while regulation and safety research fail to keep pace. Most people, including many working in AI, want stronger safeguards. But no single company or country will slow down while others race ahead. Public pressure is what breaks that deadlock and opens the door to democratically championed coordination and oversight.
A necessary step toward a global treaty is for the CEOs of the top AI companies to publicly state that they support a pause in principle. This means they would support a pause if every other player also paused at the same time, with independent auditors monitoring each company and country to ensure the treaty was honoured.
This demand is already gaining traction. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, has publicly stated he would support a pause in principle. The next step is making this position impossible for other AI company leaders to avoid.
At this protest, we will gather outside OpenAI and march through King's Cross, where several major AI companies are based, to make this demand clear: We call on all top AI company CEOs to publicly support a pause in principle as a step toward binding international regulation.
Find out more about PauseAI UK and get involved at https://pauseai.uk/
Find out more about Pull the Plug at https://pulltheplug.uk/