Pause AI protesters outside Google’s offices in King’s Cross

CAMPAIGNERS calling for a pause on the creation of artificial intelligence as they protested outside Google’s offices in King’s Cross warned that everybody could be wiped out .

The risk of the technology growing without regulation led members of the Pause AI to stage a mock trial on the doorsteps of the tech giant’s DeepMind offices in Handyside Street.

Louis Bergman, who had flown in from Philadelphia for the protest, said: “It’s going to turn out bad, bad as in kill you and your kids and every single person you’ve ever met or thought about, literally. With one proviso that if we get together in this really short period of time and get regulation and sensible governance to say: ‘Hey these companies shouldn’t be able to ride roughshod, but they should be able to have the same regulation a meat packer or a hairdresser has’. Essentially, there is no regulation.”

Mr Bergman, who lobbies Congress on AI-related issues, added: “We need eyes-on. No one is looking at this stuff. It just gets made and put into the wild with no one looking at it at all.”

Pause AI accuse Google of not following through on promises made at an AI summit in Seoul last year.

These included that each new model would be subjected to rigorous testing and that there would be full transparency including government involvement.

Ella Hughes, who organised the protest, said: “We think they need a big reminder that people are paying attention, even if the politicians are letting things slide. That we think they need to be regulated and we’re going to continue pushing for that.”

The Tribune first reported on the Pause AI movement two years ago when Alistair Stewart and Joseph Miller staged a two-man protest in the Knowledge Quarter.

Since then, hundreds more have joined in their calls to put AI development on hold until there is proper regulation and safety measures.

Mock trial

At the same Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government has firmly put AI at the centre of its policy platforms and insisted the UK will not fall behind the rest of the world.

An “AI campus” has opened in Somers Town for young people with Google’s support.

But Mr Miller said: “People are really getting energised. Politicians can’t plead ignorance any more. There’s been such a big warning from the experts. You don’t have any excuse that politicians don’t know what’s going on – they’ve definitely been told.

“It’s understandable that they don’t want to be doomy and gloomy but they’ve got to take this risk seriously because otherwise it will catch up with them.”

Tom Bibby, who does the communications for Pause AI, said: “I would not want people to be frightened, because it’s not nice to feel frightened. But I feel if nothing is done about it, you should be very frightened. We don’t know how to control it and if anyone builds it, everyone is going to die, that is an incredibly likely scenario.”

Perhaps less extreme, but equally as serious, the campaigners say that AI is already leading to job losses and will continue to redefine the labour market.

Ms Hughes said: “Jobs are already being taken. Not even exclusively the jobs you might imagine. In Germany, there have been studies which show law graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to find work because those firms are using AI to cover much of the responsibility you would have an entry-level graduate take.”

She added: “As you might imagine, it will take call centre work, supermarket work, but professional work too. It’s going to affect everybody, it’s a cross-class issue.”

A Google DeepMind spokesperson said: “We are committed to developing AI safely and securely to benefit society. We continue to evolve our model testing and reporting to respond to rapid changes in the technology, and will continue to provide information that supports the responsible use of our AI models.”