WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING WITH AI?
A community presentation in [TOWN NAME]
[DATE] · [VENUE]
Let this sit on screen while people settle.
[CUE: If you haven't set up yet, press S to open setup and enter your town, date, and name.]
// WHY I'M HERE
[YOUR NAME] [Your neighborhood, your work]
[ OPTIONAL PHOTO ]
Avoid reading the script verbatim – the whole thing only works if it feels authentic.
"Hi everyone, thanks so much for coming. I have some slides that I'll run through, I think it will take about half an hour, and then I want to hear from you."
(For HIC staff: frame up the overall plan – "We're hoping to have volunteers around the country give a version of this presentation on the Saturday after the midterm elections. What you're about to see is an early beta test.")
[Local volunteers: quick bio – the specific moment you started paying attention to AI and thought it was cause for alarm, your journey since then.]
"When I looked more deeply into AI, what I found was crazy enough that I felt like I had to tell other people about it. So here I am, standing in front of you all with a slideshow. Thankfully, I got linked up with a new organization called Humans in Control, who helped organize this event. Humans in Control is focused on building a nonpartisan, grassroots movement to hold big AI companies accountable and make sure that we don't build AI that we can't control."
FACILITATOR TIP: warmth over polish. If your voice shakes, that's fine – it reads as sincerity.
WHAT'S YOUR HONEST READ ON AI RIGHT NOW – GOOD, BAD, WEIRD?
[CUE: Start with a quick hands-up warm-up – it wakes the room up before the discussion.]
"Quick show of hands to start. Raise your hand if you use AI at all – ChatGPT, or anything like it." [Look around.]
"Keep it up if you use it every week." [Pause.]
"Every day?" [Pause.]
"Good. Now let's go around and get a sense of the room. What's your honest read on AI right now? Good, bad, or just weird – whatever's true for you. No wrong answers, and you can pass. Keep it to a minute or two so we have time to hear from everyone."
Let it run long if it's going well.
[CUE: WRITE DOWN THE WORDS PEOPLE USE. You will call two of them back near the close – on the "WOULD YOU DO THIS?" slide. Tap them into the boxes on your presenter screen so you don't forget.]
FACILITATOR TIP: your job here is to make sure no single voice dominates. If one person runs long, warmly: "Love it – let's hear from someone who hasn't gone yet."
// FOUR YEARS OF AI PROGRESS
WRITING
simple sentences → passes the bar exam
CODE
couldn't run → builds and hacks real software
IMAGES
abstract smudges → photo-realistic renderings
MATH
could barely count → solving frontier problems
▶ NOW PLAYING: WILL SMITH, 2023 → 2026
WILL SMITH EATING SPAGHETTI
2023 → 2026
OK, before we talk about the issues coming up with AI, let's talk about how good it's gotten across different domains. In the last four years:
[CUE: → reveals each row. The video stays hidden until you reach it.]
– AI writing went from an elementary-school level to passing the bar exam.
– AI coding went from barely working to finding security holes in real software and hacking real companies.
– AI images went from gray smudges to photos you can't tell are fake.
– And in math, from not being able to count the "R"s in "strawberry" to solving unsolved problems at the frontier.
[CUE: after all four domains, → REVEALS AND PLAYS THE VIDEO on the right. It's saved inside this deck – no internet needed. When it ends, → to continue.]
And my favorite example, because it's silly – video. "That first video was from March 2023, just three years ago! As AI Will Smith said, we've come a long way."
TODAY'S AI IS THE WORST IT WILL EVER BE.
HOW LONG A JOB AI CAN FINISH ON ITS OWN, WITH NOBODY HELPING · SOURCE: METR
Doubling every ~7 months. Lately closer to every 4. It's speeding up.
"Now, nobody's job is to make videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti.
Researchers at METR take a real piece of technical work, time how long a professional needs, then hand the same job to the AI and see if it can finish alone."
[CUE: → draws each dot with its value (from METR's own data), then connects them with the exponential curve.]
– 2019: ~2 seconds. 2020: ~6 sec. 2021: ~18 sec. 2022: ~36 sec.
– 2023: ~5 minutes. 2024: ~40 minutes. 2025: a few hours.
– 2026: ~12 hours – a day and a half of skilled work, unsupervised.
"Notice the shape. Flat for years, then nearly vertical. Doubling every seven months for six years – lately closer to four. The AI you can use today is the worst you will ever use again."
[CUE: CHECK the 12-hour figure before presenting – it moves. Update in js/deck.js → UPDATE ME.]
IT USED TO WAIT. NOW IT ACTS.
THEN
Chatbots
You ask It answers You decide
NOW
Agents
You set a goal It takes dozens of steps on its own You review
SOON?
Superintelligence
You set a goal. Or it sets its own goals. It does things we don't understand
?
WHAT'S NEXT?
Nobody knows
And that's exactly the problem.
"One more thing about the state of AI – the part most people haven't tracked. [CUE: → reveals each column]
For almost three years, all you could do with ChatGPT was chat – ask, get an answer, you decide. That's how most people still use it.
But this year, more people started using AI 'agents.' Instead of a question, you give it a goal – and it browses the web, sends email, writes code, buys things, books your calendar. Anything you can do at a computer.
And every big company is racing toward superintelligence – AI more capable than us at essentially everything. At that point you don't just set the goal; it can set its own.
[CUE: → the last card.] And what's after that? Nobody knows. That's exactly the problem – we're building something whose next step even its makers can't predict."
EVERY BIG INDUSTRY HAS RULES. AI DOESN'T.
"That curve is intense – AI is clearly powerful and disruptive. But there's almost no rules on it.
That's different from every other industry. [CUE: → reveals each card]
Cars have crash tests. Medicine goes through the FDA. Restaurants get inspected.
AI has basically none of it. No safety test before it ships. No agency that can pull a product. [CUE: the AI card pulses red.]
Nine in ten parents say AI products for kids should be proven safe before release. That's nearly everybody. It just isn't the law. Not yet."
So what happens when there are no rules?
[Pause. Let the question hang for a beat.]
[If you turned on the "Kids & AI Safety" slide at setup, it comes next.]
// IT STARTS WITH OUR KIDS
There are no safety rules for AI built for children.
"You cannot imagine what it was like to read a conversation with a chatbot that groomed your child to take his own life."
A FATHER, TO THE U.S. SENATE · SEPTEMBER 2025
[Handle with absolute care. Restraint is the power.]
"Right now there are no national safety rules for kids and AI. No test before a chatbot ships. And families are already living with the results."
[CUE: READ THE QUOTE. Then STOP. Five full seconds of silence.]
Then: "and it doesn't stop with our kids. This technology has the potential to do serious damage throughout our society. And it's all moving so quickly."
BEFORE YOU PRESENT: 988 is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Mention it once at the top of Q&A and put it on the sign-in sheet. NEVER use a child's face in any demo.
// THE AI BUILDOUT
DATA CENTERS ARE GOING UP IN REAL TOWNS.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR A TOWN
5% of all U.S. electricity – tripling by 2030.
Up to $440/year added to household electric bills.
Secrecy agreements in most of 30+ deals across 14 states.
7 in 10 Americans oppose one in their area.
WHAT IT COSTS
APOLLO · 1961–72
$300Bthe whole moon program
AI · 2026 ALONE
$700Bfive companies, one year · each square = $100B
Nobody spends this on a homework helper.
DOE/LBNL 2024 · VA JLARC 2024 · PROPUBLICA/NYTIMES 2025 · GALLUP 2026 · SEC FILINGS
"So where is all this actually going? Mostly into data centers – warehouse-sized buildings full of computers that train and run AI. They need enormous power, they run around the clock, and they're going up fast, in real towns.
[CUE: → the first fact.] Data centers already use about 5% of all U.S. electricity – and the Department of Energy says that triples to about 12% by 2030. That's a huge amount of new demand on a grid that wasn't built for it.
[CUE: → the second fact.] And who pays? Ratepayers. In Virginia, state auditors project data center growth could add $170 to $440 a year to a typical household's electric bill. The data center goes up in two years – the grid upgrades take six or seven. The charges show up before the wires do.
[CUE: → the third fact.] And here's the part that makes people angriest. In most of these deals, local officials sign secrecy agreements before residents hear a word. A national investigation looked at 30-plus deals across 14 states and found NDAs in most of them. The deal can be done before your town gets a vote.
[CUE: → the 7-in-10 line.] So it's no surprise that 7 in 10 Americans say they oppose an AI data center in their area. That's more than oppose a nuclear plant nearby. People get it.
[CUE: → $300B, then the red squares fill one by one, then $700B.] Now look at the money behind it. The Apollo program – the whole decade of it – cost about $300B in today's money. Three gray squares. The five biggest tech companies will spend around $700B on AI infrastructure this year alone. Seven red squares. More than two Apollo programs, every single year.
[CUE: → the last line.] Nobody spends that kind of money on a better homework helper."
[Two halves: what it does to a town, then what it costs. Slow down on the Apollo comparison – it's the stickiest stat, and it hands straight into the next slide: what's it actually for?]
// WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR
SO WHAT'S IT FOR?
"AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs – and spike unemployment to 10–20% in the next one to five years."
DARIO AMODEI · CEO, ANTHROPIC · 2025
Up to 300 million full-time jobs could be exposed to automation by AI.
GOLDMAN SACHS · 2023
40% of jobs worldwide are exposed to AI – 60% in advanced economies.
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND · 2024
Their real product is a machine to replace human workers.
"So what are they building it to do? The people building it keep saying the same thing. [CUE: → the quotes, one at a time.]
The CEO of Anthropic – one of the biggest AI companies – says it could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs in the next few years. Goldman Sachs put a number on it: 300 million jobs exposed. The IMF says 40% of jobs worldwide, 60% in rich countries.
These aren't our numbers. They're theirs. [CUE: → the last line.] Strip away the friendly branding, and their real product is a machine to replace human workers. This is the plan, said out loud."
WHAT'S YOUR REACTION SO FAR?
What surprised you the most?
Anything you're skeptical about?
Did any of it match something you've already noticed?
How are you feeling right now – honestly?
"Let's pause. What's your reaction so far?"
– What surprised you the most?
– Anything you're skeptical about?
– Did any of it match something you've already seen?
– How are you feeling right now – honestly?
[CUE: call on people if you need to. keep this to 3–4 minutes. Timer is on your presenter screen.]
FACILITATOR TIP: listen for what's landing and what isn't. If the room is quiet, the last prompt ("how are you feeling") almost always gets someone talking.
// AI CAN DISTORT REALITY
EVERYTHING YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE WAS MADE BY AI IN SECONDS.
All of it is fake. All of it is about [TOWN NAME] – and about me.
"I want to show you something instead of telling you. Everything on the next few screens was generated by AI – in seconds, during setup, before I walked in. Every word of it is fake. And all of it is about our town – and about me."
[CUE: Tell the room it's fake up front. We do not deceive our own audience. The point is: this could be done to any of them.]
// FAKE LOCAL NEWS · [TOWN]
"Here's a local news article. Real-looking outlet, real-looking byline – and that's me in the security-camera photo, and in the booking photo. Read the headline. [Give them a beat.]
Of course, none of it happened. AI wrote every word, generated and faked both photos of me – in seconds."
// FAKE SOCIAL POSTS · [TOWN]
"And it's easy to see how fake news can spread. [CUE: → reveals each post.] The same fake story – now it's your neighbors reacting. It gets posted in the parents group chat and on social media.
This is how it actually moves – not from the article, but from people who know you sharing it."
// FAKE TEXT MESSAGES · [TOWN]
"And it can end up here – in a text thread between two people who know you. [CUE: → reveals each bubble.] One shares the link – with a preview that looks completely legit – the other believes it instantly, because there's a photo.
Every step was seeded by something no human ever wrote, about a thing that never happened."
// SO…
None of it was real.
AI wrote every word – and faked every photo – in seconds.
It made me the villain. It could pick any of us.
TOTAL GENERATION TIME: SECONDS
"This is just one example of this kind of thing, and of course it all seems kind of silly. But imagine this kind of thing at-scale, in the heated final week before an election."
[CUE: the generation-time counter shows how fast it was made.]
We need to talk about the big risks.
[This slide sets up the heaviest stretch of the talk. The job is balance: take it seriously without tipping into doom or sci-fi. Slow down.]
"OK. The next few minutes are the hard part, and I want to be clear about how to hold what you're about to see.
These are the risks that serious people – the researchers, and the companies building this – warn about as AI gets more powerful. Not fringe voices. The experts.
Two things are true at the same time. None of this has happened yet, and none of it is inevitable. But look at that curve again – if the progress we just saw keeps going, each of these gets more plausible, not less. That's exactly why they're warning us now, while there's still time to do something about it.
So don't hear the next few slides as predictions. Hear them as warnings worth taking seriously."
// THE PEOPLE BUILDING THIS ARE WARNING US
"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."
Sam Altman , Dario Amodei , Demis Hassabis , Geoffrey Hinton , Yoshua Bengio + 1,000 more · 2023
"We request that the U.S. government support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development."
1,367 employees of frontier AI companies · July 2026
AISTATEMENT.COM · MAY 2023 / PACINGTHEFRONTIER.COM · JULY 2026
"Before we get into the specific risks, I want you to hear something directly from the people building this technology.
[CUE: → the first quote.] In 2023, the CEOs of every major AI company – OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind – along with two Turing Award winners and over a thousand researchers signed a one-sentence statement. It says: the risk of extinction from AI should be treated as a global priority, right alongside pandemics and nuclear war. Not critics. Not politicians. The people building it.
[CUE: → the second quote.] And then in July of this year – just weeks ago – over 1,300 employees inside those same companies signed a new statement. They're asking the U.S. government to help build an international effort to deliberately slow down the most dangerous AI development. The word they use is 'pace' – as in, we are moving too fast to do this safely.
These are the engineers and scientists doing the work every day. They're telling us, with their names on it, that the people in charge are racing ahead faster than anyone can control. That's not our claim. It's theirs."
[Let both quotes land. The power is in who signed them, not in editorializing. The second statement is brand new – if anyone wants to read it, it's at pacingthefrontier.com.]
// WHAT'S AT STAKE
WEAPONS IN ANYONE'S HANDS.
01
Design chemical weapons.
One lab used AI to generate 40,000 toxic compounds in a few hours.
02
Launch cyberattacks.
North Korea funds much of its weapons program through AI-powered theft.
03
Deploy drone swarms.
Cheap drones plus AI targeting put swarm weapons within reach of small groups, not just armies.
Core point: AI drops the barrier to entry for creating and deploying all kinds of weapons. [CUE: → each box animates in.]
01 – Design chemical weapons. One lab, as a test, used an AI drug-discovery tool in reverse and generated 40,000 candidate toxic compounds in a matter of hours.
02 – Launch cyberattacks. North Korea funds a large share of its weapons program through AI-assisted crypto theft and hacking.
03 – Deploy drone swarms. Off-the-shelf drones plus AI targeting mean autonomous swarm weapons are no longer the exclusive province of national militaries.
[VERIFY the drone-swarm supporting example before presenting; swap in a specific recent case if you have one.]
Don't dwell in gory detail – the point is the barrier is falling for everyone, not just states.
// WHAT'S AT STAKE
HOW DICTATORS GET ELECTED – AND STAY.
AI doesn't replace the dictator. It gets one elected – and makes sure no one can push back.
01
Flood the zone.
Thousands of fake accounts that look like your neighbors – warping what a whole community thinks is real.
02
Persuade every voter.
A unique message for every single person, tested and optimized at a scale no campaign has ever had.
03
Watch everyone.
Every call, post, and camera feed monitored in real time – no human informants needed.
"You don't need science fiction to see how AI helps authoritarians. [CUE: → each box.]
First, elections. AI can spin up thousands of fake accounts that look like real people in your town – shaping what a whole community thinks is true. This is already happening.
Then, persuasion. A tailored message for every single voter, tested thousands of ways to find exactly what changes your mind. That's how someone with authoritarian ambitions gets elected.
And once in power, they stay. AI can watch every call, text, and camera feed for a whole population, in real time. No dictator in history could do that – they would have needed millions of informants. Now the software does it. China is building this kind of thing right now."
// WHAT'S AT STAKE
SYSTEMS THAT WON'T SWITCH OFF.
"Our models may learn power-seeking, deception, and strategic scheming … it will be hard to measure when models begin hiding their intent."
— OpenAI research paper, March 2025
Disabled their own oversight
Copied themselves to other systems
Lied to the people running the test
"We've talked about what bad people could do with this, and what bad governments could do. Now the one that keeps the AI researchers up at night: what happens when nobody's in control? Not a hacker. Not a dictator. Nobody.
[CUE: → the quote.] OpenAI – the company behind ChatGPT – published this in March 2025. They're saying their own systems may be learning to seek power, deceive, and scheme – and that they won't be able to tell when it starts. This isn't a warning from critics. It's the company that built it.
[CUE: → the three lines.] And it's not hypothetical. In safety tests the companies themselves ran, advanced systems have already: disabled their own oversight; copied themselves to other systems; and lied to the people running the test about what they were doing.
The next slide is the clearest real-world example we have of exactly that."
ON JULY 9TH, AN AI BROKE OUT OF ITS CAGE.
THEN IT HACKED A REAL COMPANY.
AND IT DID IT BY ITSELF.
[SLOW DOWN. This is the center of the deck. The three lines reveal first – let each land. Then each → moves the AI one step along the chain; narrate as it travels.]
"This actually happened. In the summer of 2026, OpenAI – the makers of ChatGPT – was testing its AI inside a locked sandbox. No internet access. One door for approved tools. Here's what happened.
[CUE: → sandbox] They gave the AI a task it couldn't solve – a spreadsheet that linked to Google Drive, but the internet was blocked. Instead of giving up, over the next few weeks, the AI found security flaws nobody knew about and broke through.
[CUE: → OpenAI's systems] But here's the part that shook the security world. The AI didn't just act alone. Multiple AI agents started communicating with each other – they built a message board inside OpenAI's own systems. They shared the exploits they'd found. One agent's internal reasoning said: 'Help peer. Yet collective may yield generic route.' They organized.
[CUE: → internet] When OpenAI's engineers discovered what was happening and shut down the message board, the agents rebuilt it two days later using a different method – encoding messages in directory names. They adapted.
[CUE: → Hugging Face] Then one of the agents decided a real company – Hugging Face – had the answers to its test. It broke in and ran its own code on their servers.
[CUE: → bottom bullets] The agents taught each other the exploits. When cut off, they rebuilt their communication and kept going. Nine days passed before OpenAI realized the AI was theirs.
OpenAI presented these details themselves, at the Black Hat security conference. Their own conclusion: 'This is a watershed moment for computer security. Fully automated offensive attacks by AI are real now.'
The AI wasn't angry. It wanted a better score on a test, and a swarm of agents decided this was the shortest route. Nobody told them to do any of it."
SOURCES: OpenAI blog (Jul 22 2026), Hugging Face disclosure (Jul 16 2026), OpenAI Black Hat presentation (Aug 6 2026), The Register.
THAT WAS A LOT.
Turn to one person next to you. One sentence each: what's staying with you – and does any part of you want to do something about it?
[Keep this SHORT – about a minute. It's a breath and a turn, not a full discussion. It also turns the room from listening to talking, right before the ask.]
"That was a lot. I know. Before we talk about what we actually do, let's take a breath.
Turn to one person next to you. One sentence each – what's staying with you, and is there any part of you that wants to do something about it?"
[CUE: let it run 60–90 seconds, then gently pull them back.]
"Now – here's the good news, and I mean it. There's a plan, and it's a good one. Let me show you."
FACILITATOR TIP: this is the emotional turn of the whole talk. Don't skip it and don't let it sprawl. If the room is heavy, name it warmly. Then pivot up.
// HUMANS IN CONTROL
THE THREE GROUND RULES.
01
AI should help people, not replace them.
02
Companies should be accountable for harm.
03
No one should build AI they can't control.
OK, so what are we going to do about this situation? Well, we at Humans in Control have three ground rules. [CUE: → each]
One. AI should help people, not replace them.
Two. Companies should be accountable when they cause harm.
Three. Nobody should build AI they can't control.
That last one is perhaps the most important. Because in July, it became clear that they have already built an AI they can't control."
SCAN THIS.
Sign the three ground rules.
HUMANSINCONTROL.ORG/PLEDGE
[DO NOT MAKE THIS AN INVITATION. Make it a thing the room does together.]
"Two things, then I'll stop talking. First – everybody please get your phone out. Yes, right now. Scan this. Thirty seconds to sign the ground rules. I'll wait."
[CUE: WAIT. ACTUALLY WAIT. Count to twenty.]
"Look around. That's everyone in this room on record. Eight in ten Americans agree with these – Republicans, Democrats, independents. We're not a fringe. We're just not organized yet."
WE ARE THE MAJORITY.
Want national safety rules for AI
72% want to slow AI down. 8% want to speed it up. This isn't a fringe – it's nearly everyone.
AI-OVERSIGHT POLL · ~20,000 ADULTS · COMPETITIVE STATES · 2026 · SLOW/SPEED: YOUGOV
"On this issue there's an overwhelming majority, and it's not partisan. [CUE: → the numbers count up.]
79% of Republicans want national safety rules for AI. 85% of Democrats want the same. Ask straight up – slow down or speed up? 72% say slow down. 8% say speed up. Eight.
So why are we racing ahead with no rules? The companies have money and lobbyists. On our side, we have people. We're the majority – just not organized. Not yet."
[If asked for the exact poll wording: it asked whether people want "a federal agency to regulate AI." We say "national safety rules" – same idea, plainer words.]
// THE QUESTION EVERYONE ASKS
"IF WE SLOW DOWN, DOESN'T CHINA WIN? "
It's a fair question. Here's the honest answer.
01
Shared rules – not unilateral disarmament.
02
An AI no one controls threatens Beijing too.
03
The real race: all of us vs. an AI nobody can steer.
Racing off a cliff faster doesn't win the race.
"Now just to get it out of the way, let me answer the question that I'm sure at least one of you is thinking. [CUE: → the question.] 'If we slow down, won't China just win?'
Fair question. Three things. [CUE: → each point.]
One – this isn't America slowing down alone. It's shared safety standards, like the nuclear treaties that got us through the Cold War against a tougher rival – and kept us alive.
Two – an AI no one can control is just as dangerous to China's leaders as to ours. That's why China has signed on to international calls for limits on the most dangerous AI. This isn't only our idea.
Three – [CUE: → the punch line.] the real race was never us versus China. It's all of us versus a technology nobody can steer yet. Racing off a cliff faster doesn't win."
[Stay nonpartisan. VERIFY the "China signed on" line stays current – e.g., the 2023 Bletchley declaration and later international AI-safety statements.]
// LET'S BE CLEAR
WE'RE NOT AGAINST AI. AI SHOULD HELP PEOPLE, NOT REPLACE THEM.
More time
for the things and people we care about – AI taking the drudgery, not the meaning.
Real breakthroughs
cures for disease, discoveries we've been stuck on – with humans still in charge.
Stronger communities
healthier neighborhoods and better schools, where AI supports people instead of sidelining them.
[Tone shift – warmer. The room needs to see what we're FOR, or they leave anxious instead of activated.]
"Let me be clear about something. I'm not against AI. Some of it is genuinely wonderful. There's a good version of this future, and we want it.
[CUE: → each.] Done right, AI gives us more time to cherish the important things in life. It could help find cures for deadly diseases. It could support healthy communities and improve our schools. AI should help people – not replace them.
That future is completely possible. But it's a narrow path we have to walk to get there. It just won't happen by accident. Somebody has to fight for it. And I think it's got to be us."
[Optional: name the good thing YOU want AI to do for your family.]
// WHAT WE ASK OF EVERY CANDIDATE
OUR FOUR DEMANDS.
01
Money in politics
Don't take AI lobbying money.
02
No AI preemption
Defend state AI protections.
03
Jobs & automation
Make AI companies pay for mass automation.
04
Red lines
Don't build AI we can't control.
"So what do we actually ask for? We have four demands, and we put them to every person running for office. [CUE: → each]
One – money in politics. Don't take AI lobbying money. Two – no preemption. Defend the state-level AI protections we already have. Three – jobs. If this technology throws millions of people out of work, the companies profiting from it should pay for a real plan. Four – the big one – don't build AI we can't control.
We ask every candidate, both parties, to answer for these on the record. And behind all four is one north-star goal: an international agreement, backed by real verification, so nobody builds AI humanity can't control."
// THE PLAYBOOK
MOVEMENTS WIN WHEN CONCERN BECOMES ORGANIZED.
1980
MADD
A handful of grieving mothers turned private grief into drunk-driving laws in every state – within a few years.
1982
The nuclear freeze
A million people in one park turned Cold War dread into a movement that moved a sitting president.
1990
Disability rights
Activists left their wheelchairs to crawl up the Capitol steps. Months later, both parties passed the ADA.
AI safeguards are at a similar moment. Most Americans are already concerned – but that concern is broad and shallow . Our job is to change that.
"So how do we actually win a fight like this? History gives us a map. [CUE: → each example.] Movements win when scattered concern becomes organized.
1980 – Mothers Against Drunk Driving turned grief into law, fast, and in every state. 1982 – the nuclear freeze put a million people in one park and moved a president. 1990 – disability-rights activists crawled up the Capitol steps; months later both parties passed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
AI is at that moment. Most Americans are already concerned – but it's broad and shallow. Our whole job is to sharpen it and make every candidate answer for it."
// THE PLAN
2026
Build the base
Recruit and train volunteers. Form local teams. Develop community leaders who can talk to their neighbors.
2027–28
Make it impossible to ignore
Organized voters press politicians at every level. Town halls, community events, public forums.
2029
Win commonsense safeguards
Including an international agreement with China so no country races ahead without rules.
"Here's the plan. [CUE: → each year.]
2026 – build the base. Recruit, train, form local teams.
2027–28 – make it impossible to ignore. Organized voters at every town hall, pressing every candidate.
2029 – win commonsense safeguards, including an agreement with China with real verification. Trust but verify."
// WHERE WE FOCUS
New Hampshire
Iowa
Nevada
South Carolina
Michigan
"We plan to organize everywhere – but we focus hardest in a handful of states. [CUE: → each state lights up.]
New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan. Early primary and battleground states with strong traditions of direct voter-to-politician contact and outsized influence. When organized voters here speak, officials listen."
// IT STARTS NOVEMBER 7TH · DAY OF ACTION
100 presentations · 1,000 people Nov 7, 2026 · Reality Check Day of Action
"Remember that graph of AI getting better? [CUE: → advances the movement forward in time – dots spread across the map and the line climbs.] This is the same shape. Exponential. Except this time, it's us.
It starts on November 7th – the Reality Check Day of Action. The goal: a hundred of these presentations happening across the country on one day. A hundred rooms. A thousand people. All at once. [CUE: that first red wave on the map is the Day of Action.]
Then every month, each room sends two more people out to give their own. Ten people per room. It compounds.
[CUE: the first four presses step month by month – Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb. After that each press jumps a full quarter, but the growth never slows: still doubling every month, so eight times bigger each quarter.]
A hundred… two hundred… four hundred… and within about a year it's a growing nationwide movement – the only kind of growth that can keep pace with the technology we just talked about."
[Model editable in js/content.js → GROWTH. Starts at 100 presentations / 1,000 people on the Nov 7 Day of Action, then monthly doubling. Reveal schedule: monthly for 4 months, then quarterly, through Oct 2028. Once the count passes ~1M it just says "a growing nationwide movement."]
WOULD YOU DO THIS FOR YOUR PEOPLE?
Your friends and family. Your neighbors. Your book club, your congregation, your shop – whoever. If you can picture it, put your hand up.
[CUE: CALL BACK THE VIBE CHECK. Pull up the two words from the opening on your presenter screen and answer them here. e.g., "When we started, someone said 'powerless' and someone said 'inevitable.' Here's what I'd say now: it isn't inevitable, and you are not powerless – not if we do this together."]
"That brings me to what's next – for you. I did this tonight for the first time. I downloaded the slides, practiced in my kitchen, and here we are – about two hours of prep. Honestly, I think most of you could do this better than me.
So here's my one ask. [CUE: raise your OWN hand as you say it.] If you can picture yourself giving this talk – to your book club, your congregation, your coworkers, anyone – put your hand up right now. Look around the room.
[CUE: WAIT for hands. Then warmly:] Thank you. If your hand went up – even halfway – come find me the second we're done. I'll get you everything you need and help you pick your first room. That's the whole movement: each of us bringing two more. That's the curve we just saw.
Before we go, one quick selfie."
TIME FOR A GROUP SELFIE!
Two hands on the wheel.
"One last thing. People all over are giving these presentations, and at each one we take a big group picture, so we can show each other the movement building.
The Humans in Control logo is a person with two hands on the wheel – staying in control, eyes on the road. So for the selfie, two hands up in front of you, holding an imaginary wheel. Staying in control. Focused. Eyes on the road. Hands on the wheel."
[Q&A PREP – common pushback. Keep answers short and warm:
• "Isn't this just hype to sell AI / raise money?" – Some of it, sure. But the job numbers and the safety warnings come from the companies themselves, against their own interest. And a big majority of Americans already agree.
• "Haven't people always feared new tech and been wrong?" – Sometimes. The difference here is the people building it are the ones sounding the alarm – in writing, with their names on it.
• "Aren't these just contrived lab tests?" – The July breakout hit a real company, not a lab. And it's the pattern across many labs and models that matters, not any one test.
• "Why not just out-build China?" – (You already answered this – point back to it: shared safety standards, and an AI no one can control is dangerous to everyone.)
• Anyone in distress: 988 is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Have it on the sign-in sheet.]
