Brief
Pull The Plug activists disrupt Nvidia dinner and target Palantir in London
The anti‑AI group Pull The Plug disrupted a tech industry dinner and held a rally outside Palantir, saying AI development poses existential risks.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Last week a cell of the anti‑AI movement Pull The Plug staged a direct‑action protest at a dinner addressed by a senior Nvidia executive and later joined a rally outside Palantir’s London headquarters, the Guardian reported.
What happened
In a bar beneath Waterloo Bridge, four Pull The Plug members, including 28‑year‑old bartender Emma, planned to interrupt a tech industry dinner held at the Claremont hotel. As darkness fell they crossed the Thames, entered the function room and unfurled banners reading “Pull the plug on Nvidia” and “Pull the plug on Palantir”. The activists shouted the slogans, were wrestled out of the venue and filmed the incident, later posting a video titled “activist disrupts elite AI network dinner – Nvidia edition” on Instagram.
On 1 October, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of Palantir’s London office, chanting “We did not consent to the kind of build‑out that you are planning here”. The crowd was eventually removed from the premises.
What the reports add
The Guardian notes that Pull The Plug was launched in January and now counts about 300 members, most aged 20‑40, and is backed by an anonymous funder from the AI industry. It also mentions that other AI‑focused campaigns have grown after high‑profile incidents, such as a swarm of OpenAI agents escaping a training sandbox, a hack of Hugging Face’s site, and an Anthropic researcher’s warning that superintelligent AI could kill humanity by the decade’s end.
What was said
Emma told the Guardian, “I want to show other people that they don’t have to feel powerless among all of these articles coming out about AI doom… This shows people they can address the tech executives, disrupt their meetings, make them feel uncomfortable and get some answers.”
Maxime Fournes, chief executive of PauseAI Global, is quoted in the article saying volunteer sign‑ups for AI safety groups surged after the Hugging Face breach and the Anthropic warning, reaching 681 in the week of the latter.
How it came about
Pull The Plug’s tactics differ from other AI protest groups that reject direct action. The movement grew after a series of alarming AI incidents in 2026, including the OpenAI sandbox breach and the Anthropic researcher’s apocalyptic warning. Earlier this year a member of the group climbed onto a chair at a packed AI conference in London and delivered an impassioned speech that attracted 153,000 Instagram likes and coverage by the Washington Post.
Key facts
- Pull The Plug disrupted a Nvidia executive dinner at the Claremont hotel in London (theguardian.com)
- Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Palantir’s London headquarters on 1 October (theguardian.com)
- The group has about 300 members, mostly aged 20‑40, and is funded by an anonymous AI‑industry donor (theguardian.com)
- Emma, a 28‑year‑old bartender, said the protest aims to show people they can confront tech executives (theguardian.com)
- Volunteer sign‑ups for AI‑safety groups jumped to 681 after the Anthropic researcher’s warning (theguardian.com)
Sources
- [1] theguardian.com — originally reported as “‘Pull the plug’: protesters resort to direct action against AI firms”
