In the heart of San Francisco’s tech landscape, a lone warrior has emerged, wielding nothing but determination and an empty stomach to fight what he believes is humanity’s greatest existential threat: artificial intelligence.

Guido Reichstadter, a 45-year-old jewelry entrepreneur turned activist, is staging a hunger strike outside Anthropic’s downtown office, challenging the company’s relentless pursuit of superintelligent AI. His mission? To force CEO Dario Amodei to halt AI development before we accidentally create our own technological overlords.

The AI Doomsday Scenario

Reichstadter’s concerns aren’t just paranoid ramblings. He envisions scenarios where rogue AI could develop biological weapons or gradually replace human governance. The catalyst for his crusade? ChatGPT’s launch in 2022, which signaled an unprecedented global investment in artificial intelligence.

From Jewelry to Activism

After moving to the Bay Area in October 2024, Reichstadter didn’t just sit idly by. He’s already locked doors at OpenAI and inspired hunger strikers in London. His current target, Anthropic, might market itself as a safety-conscious AI company, but Reichstadter sees through what he calls a “safety facade”.

The Standoff Continues

While tech giants like Meta and OpenAI dismiss such apocalyptic predictions, Reichstadter remains undeterred. Surviving on vitamins and electrolytes, he’s determined to spark a global movement against unchecked AI development. His ultimate goal? A worldwide moratorium on AI research, similar to nuclear weapons treaties.

As Silicon Valley continues its breakneck race towards artificial general intelligence, one man’s hunger strike might just be the canary in the technological coal mine.