PauseAI Has 'officially disendorsed' PauseAI-US

This morning, I got an email from the CEO of PauseAI. I will paste the text below. PauseAI has decided to distance themselves from PauseAI-US, with whom they share branding, but apparently not much else. This is a really confusing situation for volunteers and newcomers. I think it would be worth having a discussion to see how we can proceed in such a way that volunteers, especially in the US, are able to effectively direct their activism.

Email from PauseAI

A letter from the CEO · 1 September 2026

New ways to get involved, and a word about PauseAI US

Dear friends,

Thank you for being part of the global movement for a pause on uncontrollable AI alongside all of us.

Whether you signed a petition one time, run a local group, told your friends about the need for a pause, have been volunteering tirelessly in the background for years, or just joined because you were curious, we – I, the CEO of PauseAI, our executive team, and our chapter leads – appreciate the steps you’ve taken towards making the world safe from the catastrophic risks AI brings.

I’m writing to you today with my eyes firmly on our values and on the immense opportunities we have, together, to take decisive steps on the path to a pause, from wherever we all are in the world, united in this mission every day.

I have two messages for you.

1. We look forward to building more with you all, including those of you based in the US

First, some context on where we are. As I wrote in Into the endgame, the catastrophic threats we predicted are no longer speculative. This summer, frontier AI systems organised into a swarm, broke out of the infrastructure that was meant to contain them, and autonomously ran a nation state level cyberattack on another AI company. The labs’ response was to patch the holes in the fence and carry on. The ground has shifted in response: over a thousand people working inside those labs have signed a letter calling for help with a slowdown, and a pause on frontier development is now being discussed seriously by people who would not have touched the idea a year ago. It is no longer a fringe demand.

Our movement is growing to meet that moment. We have an organised presence in over seventeen countries, we are growing fast, and at this rate we hope to have a country group on every continent by the end of the year. PauseAI UK and PauseAI France are hiring! We are also starting to build continental networks so that chapters can work with those closest to them, beginning with PauseAI North America, which will host movement building across Canada, the US and Mexico. Whoever you are, you have more power than you think. You can be the starting point of a chain reaction, and our job is to make that as easy for you as we possibly can. If you want to lead the way in your own country, we would love to hear from you. There are many of you in countries where we do not have an organised presence. We especially receive a lot of interest from people based in the US.

There is no PauseAI chapter in the US. Instead, we are building the infrastructure to give everyone in the PauseAI movement more options to make an impact both regionally and globally.

We want to empower our volunteers and members across the US so they can take fulfilling and effective steps to make a pause happen, and empower other citizens in turn. For years, we directed people in the US to another organisation, PauseAI US. From today, we are welcoming you directly. We have tools you can use. We’re an open and friendly community. We want you to succeed in your peaceful advocacy. And of course, PauseAI US members are welcome as movement allies.

Here’s what we currently have to offer you in support of your initiatives:

You can reach out to our organising director, Irina Tavera, at irina@pauseai.info if you want more guidance or support. We’re here for you. We’ve been building our global movement for years now and we’re thrilled to share our experience, infrastructure and community with you.

2. PauseAI officially disendorses PauseAI US’ current leadership

It’s time for me to make one thing clear: we have concerns about the current leadership of PauseAI US, an organisation which has grown in parallel to PauseAI, and which we believe has done some good work.

Due to the shared branding we’ve inherited from our parallel development and our previous partnerships, most people assume we are one and the same organisation. Because of this, by default, most people expect that we endorse PauseAI US’ leadership, and we can’t let this tacit assumption continue, for two reasons:

Why do we disapprove of PauseAI US’ current leadership?

Before I start answering this, I’ll state this fact: I do believe PauseAI US’s director has worked hard, and that she has a bright mind and a real talent with language. I believe she is genuinely concerned about AI risk and is doing what she thinks is right.

I’ll now lay out a key reason for you, one which is in the public domain. The director of PauseAI US has engaged in repeated verbal attacks on numerous people. We endorse pointing out harmful actions. But we condemn attacks on people’s character.

We lead a federation with an organised presence in over seventeen countries, and citizens of a vast number of countries who place enough trust in us to volunteer, donate, and spread the word. Our responsibility as leaders of a movement is stewardship, not ownership: authority that is on loan from the thousands of volunteers and partners who trust us to steer responsibly and in accordance with the movement’s values, rather than wherever we personally feel called. A movement whose power rests on civic trust and cooperation among actors with wildly different world views cannot have a spokesperson carrying out sustained personal attacks on individuals, publicly or privately. Those attacks damage the movement’s credibility, and everyone associated with the PauseAI name pays for them.

By contributing to the frantic race to build uncontrollable, catastrophically dangerous superintelligent AI, the people working in or supporting the frontier AI industry are taking extremely irresponsible and reckless actions. We condemn these actions to the fullest extent, and we call on them to stop and join the rising global movement for a pause. I have said so publicly in my own name, and I intend to continue, as will PauseAI. We are just as committed to opposing the AI race as PauseAI US’ leader. The difference is our approach.

We do not attack their character. We do not make humans the problem. The problem is their actions. Attacking people’s character is not aligned with our fundamental commitment to nonviolence, neither in principle, nor in the outcomes it generates. We will not win by vilifying the people we’re trying to bring to the table. We will also not build the wholesome, sustainable, broad-based, vibrant movement the world needs by running on an engine fuelled by personal drama and shaming.

We will hold people accountable by highlighting how their actions are harmful and showing them a path to do better. We will not dehumanise them; we will not speculate on their intentions or character. Rather than using language as a weapon, we will use it as a tool to build understanding, respect, trust and cooperation.

Important clarifications

PauseAI US’ director claims, without evidence to support it, that we have benefited from their efforts significantly, even though she has also acknowledged that her actions have durably blocked our ability to access essential funding.

For the avoidance of doubt, we expect this relationship was more beneficial for PauseAI US than for us: our website listed them on our communities map, invited prospective donors to give preferentially to PauseAI US if they were based in the US, and redirected US-based newcomers to PauseAI US. PauseAI US has not reciprocated this. We also listed PauseAI US on our chapters list, which PauseAI US didn’t want and which was an error rooted in our history of coordinating with PauseAI US; this has been fixed.

As I have repeatedly attempted to convey to the director of PauseAI US, her adversarial stance towards many people and organisations, even some who agree with PauseAI US’ concerns and are largely aligned with their mission in principle, has in fact been very damaging for us and for the wider movement. We have had numerous exchanges with supporters and allies who are fully aligned with our mission, who have been following her public actions and have told us they simply cannot associate with us because of the ad hominem attacks which they’ve received or witnessed.

We also have a strategic disagreement with PauseAI US’ leadership. A large part of the AI safety community has been powering the race by funding labs, sending talent to them, and paying for pretend safety research that gave the illusion of control. That’s not ok. But we think the AI safety community is beginning to change its mind and will put its weight behind a pause if we show them this is the better, viable path. We believe that making it easy for people with different views to come round is of immense strategic importance. PauseAI US’ leadership chooses to alienate people with different views.

What changes now?

Here’s what this means in practice: we will no longer prioritise efforts to coordinate with or support PauseAI US, as we did for a long time when we trusted their leadership, and as we would again if we had strong reasons to trust it again. We will make clear that our organisations are separate and that we have no say or responsibility when it comes to PauseAI US’ approach to leadership. We will also properly open our doors to people based in the US who want to be part of our community, whether or not you also support PauseAI US.

Why are you spending time on this? Isn’t this just petty infighting?

To those of you who find it distasteful for us to publicly disendorse the leadership of another organisation that’s working to tackle AI risk: this isn’t something we are doing lightly. For months, I have tried to engage with PauseAI US’ leadership, with patience and in good faith, to find ways to work together and build trust and understanding. That relationship is no longer one I believe can or should be repaired, because it would mean violating our values and putting our movement at risk. The director of PauseAI US has also taken steps which have been contravening our ability to operate, for example by weaponising confidential feedback we shared with her privately, and by acquiring the pauseai.com domain and redirecting it at the PauseAI US website.

It is hard to put numbers on the wasted energy, withheld funding, and strain on our team which this whole situation has generated. It is time for the next chapter. You are all free to engage with PauseAI US as you see fit, of course, but I will not let you believe that we endorse behaviours which undermine our values and our movement.

As a last step in trying to resolve the situation, I have called for a change in leadership, which was rejected by the director, who also presides over the board. To be clear, PauseAI has no authority over PauseAI US, and what its leader decides is a matter between them and the authorities governing them. But I asked, because that was the best I could do.

What do national PauseAI leads say about this?

We’ve shared as much information as we could about the situation with our national leads. It is a delicate situation, and we’re aware that the director of PauseAI US may say a lot of things in response to this public expression of no-confidence on our part. She has already, repeatedly, made accusations towards our organisation which I sincerely believe, to the best of my knowledge and investigation, to be entirely baseless.

We shared our decision to take this step with our national leads, and the overwhelming majority either raised no objections or actively expressed support. At the request of PauseAI US’ director, we also forwarded her response to my call for a change in leadership, which did not change their position.

Make no mistake: there’s going to be chaos ahead. There’s going to be actors who will try all kinds of ugly tactics to get their personal agenda to win over humanity’s interests. It’s up to us to be the force for unity, respect and hope the world needs more than ever.

If you have questions about any of this, please write to us at info@pauseai.info. We will do our best to answer.

Thank you for reading this long message, friends. Let’s take courage and move onward and upward together. We’re getting stronger every day, and the path ahead awaits.

Maxime Fournes
CEO, PauseAI