Protestors Call for Pause in AI Development at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind

On July 13, 2026, around 200 protesters marched in San Francisco, specifically between the offices of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. The march was organized by the group Stop the AI Race and aimed to call for a pause in the development of more advanced artificial intelligence models.

Demonstrators expressed a variety of concerns, including the safety of AI technologies, potential job losses, increased energy consumption, and rising housing costs in the San Francisco area. The protest also included calls for greater regulation of the technology sector by local and state authorities.

Former AI researcher Michaël Trazzi, who organized the event, noted that the group's objectives have evolved since their initial protest earlier in the year. Trazzi explained, "I think earlier this year I wasn’t thinking about raising political salience as much as I was thinking about convincing CEOs. I think I’ve updated toward CEOs actually listening, given the multiple blog posts and some exchanges I had with one of them." He emphasized the importance of protests in demonstrating public concern about these issues.

This demonstration follows a similar protest held in March 2026, during which about 200 people also called for a coordinated pause on frontier AI development. Since then, the Stop the AI Race movement has continued to advocate for these issues through various public events and campaigns, gaining support from other local organizations, including the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).