# Stop AI

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American activist organization

**Stop AI** is an American activist organization formed in 2024. Based in [Oakland, California](/source/Oakland%2C_California),[1] it seeks to ban the development of [artificial general intelligence](/source/Artificial_general_intelligence), a hypothetical technology being researched by some companies, including [OpenAI](/source/OpenAI).[2]

Some Stop AI members have been arrested for blocking doors to OpenAI offices as protest.[3][4] In November of 2025, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office delivered a subpoena to Sam Altman, as part of an ongoing trial of Stop AI members, while Altman appeared on stage a public event. [5]

According to a Stop AI leader, in late 2025, Stop AI co-founder Sam Kirchner punched him due to disagreement about the organization[4] and suddenly disappeared.[6] OpenAI and local police feared potentially violent intentions and locked down San Francisco offices.[7] Kirchner was expelled from Stop AI.[4]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["The 'unhinged' group at the edge of the AI debate"](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2025/12/04/the-unhinged-group-at-the-edge-of-the-ai-debate-00677130). *POLITICO*. 2025-12-04. Retrieved 2026-02-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["AI activists seek ban on Artificial General Intelligence"](http://web.archive.org/web/20260117173021/https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/19/ai_activists_seek_ban_agi/). Archived from [the original](https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/19/ai_activists_seek_ban_agi/) on 2026-01-17. Retrieved 2026-02-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Can you fight the AI apocalypse without losing your mind?"](https://sfstandard.com/2025/12/11/sam-kirchner-stop-ai-missing-protest/). *sfstandard.com*. 2025-12-11. Retrieved 2026-02-28.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-SFGate_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-SFGate_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-SFGate_4-2) Council, Stephen (2025-12-09). ["Bay Area tech activist's dramatic disappearance leads to grueling search"](https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/sam-kirchner-disappearance-grueling-search-21233692.php). *[SF Gate](/source/SF_Gate)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Sam Altman apparently subpoenaed moments into SF talk with Steve Kerr"](https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/openai-sam-altman-subpeona-steve-kerr-sf-talk-21137132.php). *sfgate.com*. 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2026-04-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2025-12-04). ["The Strange Disappearance of an Anti-AI Activist"](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/12/sam-kirchner-missing-stop-ai/685144/). *The Atlantic*. Retrieved 2026-02-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Schiffer, Zoë. ["OpenAI Locks Down San Francisco Offices Following Alleged Threat From Activist"](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-office-lockdown-threat-san-francisco/). *Wired*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1059-1028](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1059-1028). Retrieved 2026-02-28.

v t e Existential risk from artificial intelligence Concepts AGI AI alignment AI boom AI capability control AI safety AI successionism AI takeover Deceptive alignment Effective accelerationism Ethics of artificial intelligence Existential risk from artificial intelligence Friendly artificial intelligence Instrumental convergence Intelligence explosion Longtermism Machine ethics Suffering risks Superintelligence Technological singularity Vulnerable world hypothesis Organizations AI Futures Project Alignment Research Center Center for AI Safety Center for Applied Rationality Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence Centre for the Study of Existential Risk Future of Humanity Institute Future of Life Institute Google DeepMind Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence Machine Intelligence Research Institute METR OpenAI PauseAI Safe Superintelligence Stop AI People Scott Alexander Sam Altman Dario Amodei Yoshua Bengio Nick Bostrom Paul Christiano Eric Drexler Owain Evans Sam Harris Stephen Hawking Dan Hendrycks Geoffrey Hinton Bill Joy Daniel Kokotajlo Shane Legg Jan Leike Elon Musk Steve Omohundro Toby Ord Huw Price Martin Rees Stuart J. Russell Nate Soares Ilya Sutskever Jaan Tallinn Max Tegmark Alan Turing Frank Wilczek Roman Yampolskiy Eliezer Yudkowsky Books Do You Trust This Computer? Human Compatible If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Our Final Invention Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity Other Artificial Intelligence Act Open letter on artificial intelligence Regulation of artificial intelligence US Statement on AI Risk Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stop AI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_AI) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_AI?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.