Protesters gathered outside the unmarked Manhattan offices of OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI tool ChatGPT, on Monday evening. They held signs with messages like "Eat the rich, save the planet," expressing concerns about the environmental and societal impacts of AI. Similar demonstrations took place over the next two days at the offices of Google and Amazon, while other protesters, including members of the clergy, were arrested for disrupting a closed-door AI health summit in the city. Tonight, activists will target a Brooklyn gas power plant, originally set to close but recently acquired to power AI datacenters. The protests come after an Anthropic employee resigned and issued a warning that AI could potentially lead to human extinction by the end of the decade. While such concerns are not new, they have gained significant public attention amid a broader distrust in big tech and growing opposition to datacenter construction. From 2024 to 2026, local communities blocked at least $64 billion in proposed datacenter projects. Today, bans on datacenters are in place in at least 18 states, and New York passed a statewide moratorium this summer. Jonathan Westin, from the Climate Defenders and Stop Funding Billionaires campaign, organized the "unplug AI" week of action. He said the protests highlight the contradiction between tech companies' claims of AI's power and their inability to achieve basic goals. Many of the protesters are part of climate organizations attending New York's climate week, a global event that aligns with the United Nations General Assembly. Activists argue that datacenters use large amounts of water and energy, often from fossil fuels, which harms the environment and local communities. Protesters also criticized the collaboration between big tech and the U.S. military, pointing out that companies like Palantir, xAI, and Anthropic have provided technology used in military operations, including targeting in the war in Iran. Some activists argue that the doomsday predictions from tech companies are a distraction from more pressing issues like the climate crisis and rising inequality. Others, like Daisy Maldonado from New Mexico, highlighted the environmental risks of planned datacenters, which could further deplete water resources in drought-stricken areas. She criticized companies for spreading misinformation about the benefits of such projects. At an AI sustainability conference in the city, five protesters were arrested for disrupting a keynote on using AI to solve energy grid issues. They accused the conference of "greenwashing," or misleadingly portraying datacenters as environmentally friendly. Adrosto de Silva, who attended both the OpenAI protest and the conference, emphasized that no datacenter can be truly sustainable. Activists like Tennessee state representative Justin Jones stressed that these issues disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income areas, where companies often expect less resistance. Jones said the rise of powerful tech companies poses a threat to all people.