Student Activists Arrested After ‘Occupying’ Entrance to DC Office for AI Lobbyists

Student Activists Arrested After ‘Occupying’ Entrance to DC Office for AI Lobbyists

You might say these students were ‘colonizing’ the entrance to this office.

Breitbart News reports:

Police Arrest 13 After Student Activists Occupy OpenAI Office in D.C.

Student activists occupied the lobby of a Washington, DC building housing OpenAI’s public lobbying office on Monday afternoon, resulting in 13 arrests. Some students carried signs reading, “OpenAI bought my Senator.”

Futurism reports that more than 30 demonstrators gathered inside the Gallup Building, unfurling a large banner that read “Stop Stealing Our Future” alongside signs stating “OpenAI bought my Senator.” The occupation lasted roughly two hours before police entered the lobby and arrested 13 people.

An incident report obtained from the Metropolitan Police Department states that the 13 individuals were arrested for “unlawful entry.” According to the report, police split the group after detaining them, sending seven to the First District Station, four to the Second District, and two to the Third District for processing. The identities and current whereabouts of those arrested have not been made public.

The protest was organized jointly by the climate advocacy group Sunrise Movement and the anti-AI organization QuitGPT. In a joint statement shared with Futurism, the groups said Monday’s demonstration is part of a broader campaign spanning more than 20 states throughout August, calling on politicians to “Dump Big Tech.”

Student organizer Raya Gupta, who took part in the protest, said in the statement, “my friends chose to risk arrest to bring the fight to OpenAI.”

“Our generation doesn’t have any guarantees about whether we’ll have jobs after college, or whether there will be clean drinking water for all of us or whether people will have any power left in politics since our elections keep getting bought by Big Tech,” Gupta said. “We all believe that not taking action now, as the scales slide between the people and the billionaires, puts our future in great jeopardy.”

BREAKING: 13 students are occupying @OpenAI’s brand new lobby office in DC, as their dark money super PAC is on track to spend nearly $200 million to buy elections this year.

Young people want good jobs and a livable planet. pic.twitter.com/kGr88a9m66

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) August 10, 2026

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