Protesters picket OpenAI, Google and Amazon over AI energy demand

single source· 1 articles · confidence: medium · first seen 2026-09-24 14:00 UTC

What this means for you

Nothing to act on today. The concrete hook is the Brooklyn plant: capacity that had been due to retire was bought for AI compute, and that is now the focus of protest. If you are siting datacentres in New York, expect the power question to be political. Everything here rests on one report.

Protesters picketed OpenAI's unmarked Manhattan offices on Monday evening during New York climate week, then Google's and Amazon's offices over the next two days. Clergy and other demonstrators were arrested disrupting a closed-door AI health summit. A further protest is planned at a Brooklyn gas plant that had been due to close until it was bought to power AI datacentres. The Guardian links the actions to an Anthropic employee's resignation and warning that the people building AI believe it could kill everyone by the end of the decade. None of the three companies is quoted responding.

Key facts

  • ·Protesters gathered outside OpenAI's Manhattan offices on Monday evening during New York climate week. source
  • ·Groups picketed Google's and Amazon's offices over the two days following the OpenAI protest. source
  • ·Clergy and other protesters were arrested while disrupting a closed-door AI health summit in New York. source
  • ·A Brooklyn gas power plant that had been set to close was purchased to power AI datacentres, and was the target of a protest that evening. source
  • ·The Guardian reports that an Anthropic employee quit his job with a warning that the people building AI believe it could kill everyone by the end of the decade. source

What the sources say

  • The Guardian AI — Protests at three tech offices and a planned datacentre power plant, set against an employee's resignation.

Sources

The original reporting. Follow these — they did the work.

← the wire