Silicon Valley residents are increasingly trying to stop the advance of artificial intelligence, even as the region attracts hundreds of billions of dollars in investment to expand the technology\u2019s reach. <\/p>\n
Companies and workers around San Francisco Bay sparked the global AI explosion. Now, the nation\u2019s tech hub also sits at the center of an intense and growing revolt against its ability to cause harm and replace humans.<\/p>\n
Hunter Glenn joined a group of protesters outside the San Francisco headquarters of AI trailblazer Anthropic on Monday because he is worried that AI poses a threat not only to jobs but also to humanity. <\/p>\n
He was laid off as a copywriter soon after his company started using AI tools. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t tell me \u2018we\u2019re replacing you with AI,\u2019 but that\u2019s the impression I got,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tech workers and activists have staged protests this month throughout the area, sounding the alarm that AI will become tougher to control as it grows more powerful.<\/p>\n
Prominent economists<\/a>, tech leaders and researchers have warned that AI could transform the economy for better or worse, bringing large-scale job displacement. And people are pushing back against new data centers in their communities. <\/p>\n The public outcry comes as AI becomes more intertwined in people\u2019s daily lives, triggering fears as big as human extinction. Companies are pushing employees to embrace AI tools to do more with fewer people. Teenagers<\/a> are socializing more with AI chatbots, raising concerns about the technology\u2019s effect on mental health. Yet tech companies are showing no signs of slowing down as they release more powerful AI tools and rope in new customers in government, healthcare and other industries.<\/p>\n Glenn participated in a protest organized by Stop the AI Race. In a city filled with a slew of AI billboards, a large black flag with the group\u2019s name billowed in the wind as workers walked in and out of the office and self-driving cars passed by.<\/p>\n This month, Glenn also was among hundreds of protesters who marched to OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind urging companies to stop the AI race, a competition that\u2019s heightened between the U.S. and China.<\/p>\n The group, which plans to be at Anthropic\u2019s headquarters every day until their demands are met, and others have been pushing for companies to pause new AI model training. They want governments to sign an international treaty to respond to AI\u2019s \u201cpotentially catastrophic risks\u201d such as human extinction.<\/p>\n Although AI\u2019s threats to jobs \u201care very real,\u201d Glenn said he\u2019s more worried about AI\u2019s threat to civilization and people\u2019s quality of living.<\/p>\n \u201cWe might be winning the AI race to make humanity second place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Michael Trazzi, who founded and leads the Stop the AI Race movement, attracted attention last year when he went on a hunger strike outside Google DeepMind\u2019s London office. The former AI researcher and filmmaker has been urging Google DeepMind\u2019s chief executive, Demis Hassabis, to commit to ending the AI race.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is not the companies themselves being evil and trying to kill everyone, but it\u2019s mostly that if this market risk continues, we will end up with AI smarter than humans that will be hard to control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Various groups have been expanding in the Bay Area and beyond, some focused more heavily on job displacement and others pushing for actions such as quitting OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT and banning new AI technology development.<\/p>\n The pressure to embrace more AI tools at work also has sparked concerns among tech workers who are anxious that their jobs could be automated in the future. Tech companies such as Meta, Amazon, Oracle and others have been slashing their global workforces. <\/p>\n Many of the layoffs are happening in California. Laid-off tech workers say it is getting tougher to find their next job. <\/p>\n Tech companies have marketed AI as a tool to help workers rather than replace them. Still, some tech executives have acknowledged that they think the overall workforce will shrink, while others say AI will create new jobs. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Hassabis has called for the U.S. to create an AI watchdog to mitigate potential risks. <\/p>\n \u201cNobody in the world knows for sure what is going to happen from here, and even the experts disagree. When there is a large degree of uncertainty and the stakes are this high, proceeding with cautious optimism is the sensible and correct strategy,\u201d he wrote in an online post<\/a> July 14.<\/p>\n Also last week, Google workers rallied outside of the company\u2019s Mountain View headquarters, urging stronger protections against layoffs. More than 4,500 Google workers signed a petition demanding protections such as voluntary exit packages and guaranteed severance.<\/p>\n \u201cWith AI being added to my job requirement, I also have to worry if I\u2019m using it enough or that I will have the time to review what it\u2019s doing or that it might get good enough at my job to replace me,\u201d Dan Freedman, staff software engineer at Google and a member of the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America, said in a statement.<\/p>\n A third of organizations expect AI to shrink their workforces, with the highest anticipated cuts in service operations, supply chain and software engineering, according to a 2026 report<\/a> released by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. AI is affecting early-career workers, including software developers, the report said.<\/p>\n