Protesters chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters as they called for an end to the race to develop artificial superintelligence. A 69-year-old activist has been jailed after taking part in a protest outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco, in what supporters describe as the first imprisonment linked to a protest against artificial intelligence. Wynd Kaufman, a retired teacher from Berkeley, California, surrendered to authorities on Friday after being convicted for her role in a February 2025 demonstration organised by the group StopAI, according to a Guardian report.
“It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers, and they are pursuing it anyway. The case comes as concerns about AI safety have grown among researchers, policymakers and technology experts. AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are racing to develop increasingly powerful systems, while the US and China compete for leadership in the technology.
More than 1,000 researchers at leading AI labs recently signed a letter warning that AI capabilities could advance faster than researchers’ ability to understand or control them.
That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible,” Kaufman said before she was imprisoned. Her appeal to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta’s CEOs was to “regain your humanity”.
