PauseAI - About Us

web

PauseAI is a grassroots advocacy organization founded in 2023 calling for a pause on frontier AI development until safety can be demonstrated. This page describes their founding, milestones, and global organizational structure, relevant to understanding civil society responses to AI risk.

Metadata

Importance: 35/100homepage

Summary

PauseAI is a global grassroots movement founded in May 2023 in the Netherlands, advocating for a pause on frontier AI development until it can be proven safe and kept under democratic control. The organization has grown from a single-person initiative to a network with national chapters across multiple continents. Key activities include coordinated international protests at major AI summits and lobbying offices.

Key Points

•Founded in May 2023 by Joep Meindertsma in Utrecht, Netherlands, motivated by concerns about existential risks from AI.
•Has organized coordinated protests across 13+ countries, targeting events like the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park and the AI Seoul Summit.
•Operates as a global network with national organizations in the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, and others.
•Core demand: pause frontier AI development until safety can be proven and AI remains under democratic control.
•Represents a civil society / activist approach to AI governance, distinct from technical safety research organizations.

1 FactBase fact citing this source

Entity	Property	Value	As Of
PauseAI	Description	International grassroots advocacy movement calling for a global moratorium on the development of more powerful AI systems until safety can be guaranteed and democratic control established. Seeks an international AI safety agency modeled on the IAEA.	Mar 2026

Cached Content Preview

HTTP 200Fetched Apr 7, 20263 KB

About Us 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 Top

 PauseAI's largest ever protest will be on Saturday February 28th in London. Sign up now!   Close HELP US PROTECT STATE SOVEREIGNTY ON AI REGULATION | ACT NOW »   Close 🎄 Holiday Matching Campaign! Help fund volunteer stipends for PauseAI
 advocates. Join the Little Helpers campaign → Close Brussels, Feb 23 - Join us outside the European Parliament to call for a global treaty
 to pause frontier AI development. Take action → Close About Us

 How We Began

 We were founded in Utrecht, Netherlands in May 2023 by Joep Meindertsma, who put his job on hold
 because he couldn't ignore the existential risks from artificial intelligence any longer. We
 began with our first public action, which was a protest outside Microsoft's Brussels lobbying office .

 What started as one person's call to action has grown into a global grassroots movement with
 volunteers, national leaders , and local communities across the world, all working toward the
 same goal: pausing frontier AI development until we can prove it's safe and keep it under democratic
 control.

 Key Milestones

 November 2023: Protested outside the inaugural AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park .
 February 2024: Gathered outside OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco 
 May 2024: Organized coordinated protests across thirteen countries—including the US, UK,
 Brazil, Germany, Australia, and Norway ahead of the AI Seoul Summit .
 February 2025: Coordinated an event larger global protest for the French AI Summit , adding Kenya and DRC to the mix.
 June 2025: Led our biggest protest yet outside Google DeepMind's London office , holding them accountable for breaking their safety commitments and hosted the first ever
 PauseCon training event.
 Ongoing: Grew from a single-country initiative into a network with national organizations like
 PauseAI US, each running their own campaigns while we coordinate globally.
 Executive Team

 Maxime Fournes CEO PauseAI Global 
 Irina Tavera Organizing Director 
 Jonathan Moody Comms Director 
 National Leaders

 Ayoze García González PauseAI Spain 
 Benjamin Schmidt PauseAI Germany 
 Carl PauseAI Sweden 
 Clémence Peyrot PauseAI France 
 Giulia Consonni PauseAI Italy 
 Holly Elmore PauseAI US 
 Jeremy Eliosoff PauseAI Canada 
 Joseph Miller PauseAI UK 
 Khadija Sabiu PauseAI Nigeria 
 Matěj Jaroš PauseAI Czechia 
 Michael Huang PauseAI Australia 
 Peter Horniak PauseAI Australia 
 Raluca Spataru PauseAI Romania 
 Seth Momanyi Ouko PauseAI Kenya 
 Svetozar Jankovic PauseAI Serbia 
 Global Board

 Joep Meindertsma Founder PauseAI Global, Board Chair 
 Otto Barten Board Member (NL) 
 Michiel van den Ingh Board Member (NL) 
 Essential Information

 Privacy Policy 
 Legal Info 
 Global Funding and Donors 
 Roadmap 
 Press 
 Vacancies

Resource ID: kb-3324d9a444e1ba5b | Stable ID: sid_VgFsxwUTXz