‘Pull the plug’: protesters resort to direct action against AI firms

A protest against AI outside Downing Street in London last month. It was organised by PauseAI, a confederation of campaign groups in 17 countries. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

In a bar below Waterloo Bridge, a cell of a fast-growing anti-AI protest movement met last week to plot their latest move: disrupting a tech industry dinner being addressed by a senior executive from the chip maker Nvidia.

Emma, a 28-year-old bartender, had never before taken direct action and was the most nervous of the four plotters from Pull The Plug, one of a growing number of AI-focused campaign groups around the world.