This actually happened.
All the way on the car ride to the precinct after being arrested for sitting down in front of the doors of OpenAI in violation a court stay away order, I was talking with the arresting officers about AI risk and the threat of extinction. By the end the cop was like "so how can we to stop it?!" I said, brother- that's what I was trying to do when you picked me up! His face froze for a second like the light was slowly dawning...
Later that day while I was being held for processing into general population the warden at SF county jail in the Hall of Justice called me into his office learn why I was there. We had a deep discussion about AI risk and where this is all going. By the end of the conversation he said something like, thanks, I'm going to have to seriously think this over.
Practically everyone I talked to in jail, from the inmates to officers, was respectful and supportive of my action to stop the AI companies. Some even said thanks for what I was doing. I was held for six days and had the chance to talk to almost a hundred people about the threat from AI.
On my next to last day as I was being escorted down the halls from the cells to be arraigned I was talking with the guy I was shackled to about AI risk, mentioning how I was arrested because the cops interfered with my efforts to stop AI development. While gesturing to the two officers escorting us I mentioned that "Sooner or later even the cops are going to realize that they're on our side." The female officer next to me immediately said- "oh, we already realize it!" while her partner nodded.
According to a recent poll, 53% of Americans already think its likely or somewhat likely that AI will quote "destroy the human race." 63% want to ban superintelligence development! These numbers are more than enough! The time to push hard on this is right now! Take nonviolent direct action, force this question in front of the juries and into the arena of public debate by action on a scale and with a persistence that can't be ignored.
There's a point at which the "AI safety community" mantra of "we need to do more education" is just an excuse for not taking (what we imagine to be) uncomfortable direct action today to end this outrageous and unacceptable danger to the lives of everyone we love. It's a delaying tactic- and what we're delaying is our own victory.