As artificial intelligence shapes economies, workplaces and everyday life, a British campaign group is preparing to protest in London, demanding stronger regulation and a greater public say in the technology’s future.
In an interview with Anadolu, Ioan Marc Jones, who works on content and communications for Pull the Plug, outlined the group’s push to give ordinary people more influence over decisions now dominated by technology companies.
The group is organizing a demonstration outside the BBC's headquarters on Dec. 5, followed by a march through central London. Billed as March Against the Machines, the protest aims to mobilize people concerned about AI's rapid expansion and the growing power of its developers.
"Largely what we want is more democratization of that space and just for the people to have a say over the direction and development and implementation of the tech," Jones said.
In its protest announcement, the group highlighted concerns ranging from misinformation and surveillance to environmental damage and risks to workers. It also warned that biases in AI systems could harm women, racial minorities and transgender people, as well as those navigating social care and justice systems.
For Jones, a freelance writer, the initial concern was the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems without creators' permission.
"I know my work was trained for AI without credit, consent or compensation," he said.
His concerns later expanded to misinformation and the impact of AI-generated content on organizations whose information is reproduced without attribution, sometimes inaccurately.
Pull the Plug, he said, was formed by ordinary people frustrated by the lack of meaningful regulation and democratic oversight.
"There are so many issues at play and so little care being given to them," he said.
A central demand of Pull the Plug is to prevent major AI developers from dominating decisions about how the industry should be regulated.
Jones singled out OpenAI and Anthropic, arguing that their prominent role in discussions about AI safety raises questions about corporate influence over public policy.
"They shouldn't be deciding what regulation we have, because that can lead to regulatory capture," he said, referring to a situation in which regulators serve the interests of the industries they oversee rather than the public.
He also identified Meta, Microsoft and Amazon among the technology companies whose growing influence has contributed to concerns about concentrated power.
While acknowledging that some AI developers publicly support regulation, Jones questioned whether companies developing the technology should have such strong influence over the rules governing it.
Instead, Pull the Plug is calling for citizens' assemblies that would allow ordinary people to examine AI-related risks and recommend regulations to the British government.
Jones said the organization would campaign for the implementation of recommendations emerging from those assemblies, even if they differed from the personal preferences of its members.
"It's not about what I believe is the most important thing. It's about what collectively we agree on," he said.
Jones said the organization had yet to receive concrete commitments from British officials or direct responses from major AI companies.
Some individuals connected to the government had shown interest, he added, but discussions had not progressed to a serious level.
Environmental concerns have become another major focus of the campaign, particularly as expanding AI infrastructure increases demand for electricity and water.
Jones warned that the construction of large data centers could put additional pressure on local resources while communities have little influence over decisions about their development.
He said Pull the Plug has received requests for assistance from communities across Britain, including Torrington, Reading, Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
The group supports local campaigns by offering organizational advice, helping develop public messaging and raising visibility through social media and video content.
"People are seeing them in their communities," Jones said.
Pull the Plug is calling for a moratorium on new data centers until communities have a say in decisions about their development. Jones stressed that it seeks a pause, not a permanent ban.
"No one's been asked. As ever with AI, it just feels like they go ahead and ask for permission later," he said.
Beyond environmental concerns, Pull the Plug warns that AI could deepen economic inequality by shifting income and economic power away from workers toward technology owners.
Jones identified transportation and the creative industries as sectors potentially vulnerable to automation, particularly through autonomous vehicles and AI-generated content.
"AI has the capacity to widen the gap between capital and labor," he said.
However, he acknowledged that the scale of future job displacement remains uncertain and cautioned against making definitive predictions.
He also questioned whether AI had delivered the economic growth and productivity gains promised by technology companies.
Jones also raised concerns about the potential misuse of advanced AI systems for more destructive purposes.
"I think there's a risk that's substantive in terms of stuff like the development of bioweapons and the attacking of vulnerable critical infrastructure," he said.
Nevertheless, Jones criticized technology executives for making dramatic predictions about human extinction without providing sufficient evidence.
He argued that such warnings risk diverting attention from existing societal harms while potentially serving commercial interests by portraying AI as extraordinarily powerful.
Jones declined to estimate the likelihood of catastrophic scenarios, stressing that governments should address serious security threats without relying on speculative predictions.
Although Pull the Plug currently focuses on Britain, it hopes to establish stronger ties with similar movements internationally.
Jones said the organization has a sister group in Germany and has received inquiries from concerned individuals in countries including Austria and Australia.
He also pointed to campaigns against data center developments in the United States as an inspiration for local activism.
However, limited resources and reliance on volunteers have constrained the group's ability to expand internationally.
"We have finite resources and sort of have to put them in the best places," he said.
The organization has previously staged smaller protests, including a satirical action in which campaigners delivered fake NHS patient data to the offices of technology company Palantir to highlight concerns about the handling of sensitive information.
The Dec. 5 demonstration, however, is intended to draw a substantially larger crowd.
"We're hoping hundreds, at least thousands, hopefully tens of thousands," Jones said.
He stressed that lasting progress would require effective AI regulation, democratic oversight and international agreements addressing risks ranging from autonomous weapons to the environmental costs of data centers.
For now, the message to the British government remains straightforward.
"Listen to the people and see what they're saying," he said.
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