"An anti-AI activist in California has been missing for about two weeks, according to The Atlantic, and now his friends are scared for his safety while San Francisco police fear he could target OpenAI employees. The activist in question, a 27 year old named Sam Kirchner, helped start the Stop AI group last year with a commitment to non-violent protest, but became frustrated and angry that the group's efforts didn't go quickly or far enough as he increasingly saw AI as a"
"Kirchner's situation is clearly extreme, but perhaps not entirely surprising as AI rocks society, prompting doom-and-gloom narratives, even among its most ardent boosters like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. "There is this kind of an apocalyptic mindset that people can get into," Émile P. Torre - a philosopher, historian and acquaintance of Kirchner - told The Atlantic. "The stakes are enormous and literally couldn't be higher. That sort of rhetoric is everywhere in Silicon Valley.""
"Stop AI's mission is to push for a "permanent global ban on the development of artificial superintelligence," The Atlantic reports. Kirchner disagreed with Stop AI messaging for a protest and then beat up Matthew "Yakko" Hall, the current leader of the group, after Kirchner tried to access funds from Stop AI's coffers."
Sam Kirchner, a 27-year-old activist who helped found Stop AI, has gone missing while friends fear for his safety and police fear potential threats against OpenAI staff. Kirchner initially committed to nonviolent protest but grew frustrated that the group's actions were too slow as he viewed AI as an existential threat. He split from Stop AI after assaulting its leader and attempting to access group funds, then went off-grid. Police received warnings that he had threatened to buy high-powered weapons and to kill people at OpenAI. Observers note apocalyptic rhetoric about AI is spreading in Silicon Valley, raising alarm about extreme reactions.
Read at Futurism
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