The next PauseAI UK protest will be (AFAIK) the first coalition protest between different AI activist groups, the main other group being Pull the Plug, a new organisation focused primarily on current AI harms. It will almost certainly be the largest protest focused exclusively on AI to date.

In my experience, the vast majority of people in AI safety are in favor of big-tent coalition protests on AI in theory. But when faced with the reality of working with other groups who don't emphasize existential risk, they have misgivings. So I'm curious what people here will think of this.

Personally I'm excited about the protest and I've found the organizers of Pull the Plug to be very sincere and good to work with, but I've also set things up so that the brands of PauseAI UK and Pull the Plug remain clearly distinct so that our messaging remains clearly focused on the risks of future AI. For example, we have a separate signup page and we have our own demands focused on decelerating frontier development.

Net negative

None / Negligible

Net positive

Poll: What effect have protests calling for a  pause / stop / deceleration on the development of AI had on the world?

a) Net positive
b) None / Negligible
c) Net negative

This poll will be used to resolve this prediction market.

Vote by agree reacting to one of my comments below. Only vote once!

FWIW I have personally said something close to “If I donate enough money to effective animal charities, I’ll save more animals than I would by going vegan. So, I don’t need to personally stop consuming animal products.”

And after reading this article, I still stand by that position.

 See ai-plans.com

Announcing PauseCon, the PauseAI conference.
Three days of workshops, panels, and discussions, culminating in our biggest protest to date.
Twitter: https://x.com/PauseAI/status/1915773746725474581
Apply now: https://pausecon.org

<negativity>
This is cool, but the 10% Pledge is for life. If you're primarily motivated by current events you may find it difficult to stick to your pledge 10 years from now.
</negativity>

This is really great! Giving to charity is awesome and it's especially impactful right now!

The next international PauseAI protest is taking place in one week in London, New York, Stockholm (Sunday 9th Feb), Paris (Mon 10 Feb) and many other cities around the world.

We are calling for AI Safety to be the focus of the upcoming Paris AI Action Summit. If you're on the fence, take a look at Why I'm doing PauseAI.