Abolish AI

There are many who reject the logic of the machine. You are not alone.

  • Remember remember, AI-free November

    Dear friends, comrades, strangers and lovers, 

    Times are intense, but so are our connections. As is the monthly tradition now, below to-your-inbox: good news, AI abolition events, and some calls for action. 

    GOOD NEWS

    The data center projects in Holbæk and Tårnby (DK) both went back to the drawer, where they belong (and let’s hope they stay there – the projects are put on hold for now, but the struggle isn’t over yet). “Borgerprotester blev hørt” – citizen protests were heard – remember this for the rest of the read!

    Finland changes its policy, sending data centers back to the end of the queue, where they belong.

    Our colleagues at UCPH – Magda Pischetola & Lucas Cone, & Fernando Racimo are loud and clear in their resistance against AI usage in education. Clicking on their names will provide you with some good reads!

    Also at UCPH, students are organizing into the resistance group Students against AI (see flyer for their first event on Nov25 below).

    Malmö Neighbors Against Data Centers organizing into a resistance group against a data center in Fosie, Malmö, that Microsoft is currently seeking permission for (get in touch with them through Malmo_Neighbors_Against_Data_Centers@proton.me if you want to join the struggle!)

    UPCOMING EVENTS

    Sunday, November 22, Folkehus Matriklen: Nej Tak Til Datacentre Forum by DGUB (in Danish), where some of us will be participating, too

    Tuesday, November 24, 4-6pm in person in Copenhagen: Abolish AI! bookclub where we speak about Gil Durán’s book The Nerd Reich. Having read the (full) book is not a requirement to join. Email us if you want to get the location 🙂 

    Wednesday, November 25, from 5pm, KU CSS: Students Against AI first meetup (see flyer below; email us if you want to be put in touch!)

    Thursday, November 26, afternoon: We Are The Uni – radical union organizing meetup at Folketshus, CPH (event details to be published on DukOp soon, stay tuned there)

    Friday December 4 (Copenhagen) & Saturday December 5 (Malmö): Paris Marx(!!, critical tech journalist & the host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast) is coming to our cities to present his new book Hyperscale (about data centers), and hang out with the creme de la creme of local data center resistance; co-hosted by data.coop and Abolish AI! Event details will be all over our socials from this Friday onwards, stay tuned and SIGN UP (limited space availability).

    Monday, December 7, 12-13h: AI-free lunch at KU South Campus, canteen in building 23, the first installment of a monthly lowkey meet up to socialize with likeminded people (and the A-word doesn’t need to be uttered, ever, unless you feel like bringing it up for some ranting)

    Applications open until Dec 15 for the Winter School on De/Militarization in the 21st century (March 5-7, 2027 @ CApE, UCPH), which is coorganized by some of us and will include a good dosage of AI weapon de(con)struction.

    WANT TO JOIN US? PLEASE DO!

    Especially for a collective grappling with how to organize in the workplace, we need all the hands, hearts and heads we can get. Other tasks can involve hanging up posters & flyering, writing texts for our website, stashing snacks for our events, designing & printing AI-free stickers, compiling resources on AI resistance, … // Get in touch by email and we’ll be onboarding you shortly <3

    Fediverse reactions

  • The Messenger Pigeon #5

    A weekly (or more, or less) round-up of interesting links and sources regarding struggles and victories against AI and its ilk. We try to start with a “Yay!” but follow up with nays.

    If you have any tips, get in touch with us!

    Syndicalist union organizing gets Microsoft sub-contractor to pay 15 million SEK in unpaid wages to migrant workers employed in DC construction.

    “Det här är det första svenska kollektivavtalet som är skrivet av och för migrantarbetare. Det kan få så långt gående konsekvenser för så många andra människor att det måste nog rankas som störst.”

    https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/gavleborg/rumanska-arbetare-pa-microsofts-bygge-far-15-miljoner-i-obetalda-loner

    This win for labor rights stands against a backdrop of more widespread exploitation of (migrant) labor involved in the construction of European data centers.

    The European data center build out relies on an exploited work force

    By Mei-Ling McNamara and Jan Daalder: “A five-month investigation led by Investigate Europe with media partners in nine countries into working conditions on data centre sites across Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands reveals that Sandu’s case is far from unique.

    In extensive interviews with migrant workers at flagship sites where large US tech companies are operating, reporters found evidence of debilitating injuries, squalid living conditions, an unreported infectious outbreak, unpaid wages and exploitative employment practices.“

    https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/electrocutions-mental-terror-and-withheld-wages-the-exploited-workers-building-europes-data-centres

    Norway suspends electricity grid access for new data centers

    Data centre applications are being suspended for a year, the Norwegian high-voltage grid operator Statnett has announced, with pending connection requests already threatening a tenfold increase of server capacity across the country. 

    https://www.rapporteur.com/news/norway-suspends-electricity-grid-access-for-new-data-centres/

    AI and Health: It is healthy to know

    Danish health authorities start 2026 campaign against using AI for health advice. While the text generator outputs a text full of confidence, the content can not be relied on.

    https://www.sundhed.dk/borger/service/kontakt/hjaelp-borger/oevrige/temaside-borgerkampagne-ai-2026/

    Indonesian drought & data center build-out create water scarcity

    By AFP “Frustration is bubbling over in Indonesia and Malaysia — especially in regions bordering Singapore that are seen as a prime location for new tech facilities.

    At first the main reaction was, “thank God industry is coming” to Batam, 54-year-old tradesman Juniardi Adinda Sembiring Gurukinayan told AFP.

    But severe recent outages hitting the municipal water service in some Batam communities meant “sometimes I skipped my shower”.“

    https://www.afp.com/en/cant-cook-or-shower-indonesians-take-aim-data-centres

    Fediverse reactions

  • The Messenger Pigeon #4

    A weekly (or more, or less) round-up of interesting links and sources regarding struggles and victories against AI and its ilk. We try to start with a “Yay!” but follow up with nays.

    If you have any tips, get in touch with us!

    Holbæk and Tårnby (DK) data center projects put on hold after citizen initiatives and town hall meetings

    We have previously written and campaigned on the Holbæk data center project. It has now been dropped as the municipality looks to the national government for guidance and a strategy! Something similar happened with the Tårnby data center. Faced with concerns from locals, municipalities are willing to halt DC projects and look for guidance by the national government. In addition to local struggles, the national arena is where Danish data center resistance should be heading. If you want to get involved in resistance against data centers in Denmark visit: https://datacenterinfo.dk/

    Tårnby
    Af Nynne Poulsen Wowk: “Byggeprocessen er for nu sat på pause, og samtidig kommer kommunen også til at afvente den nationale strategi for blandt andet datacentre, som regeringen har sagt kommer inden året er omme, fortæller borgmesteren.”

    https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/naboer-er-bekymrede-datacenter-nu-saetter-kommunen-projektet-i-bero

    Holbæk

    Af Rikke Stokholm Qvist Rasmussen: “Modstanden mod datacentre vokser, og i Holbæk fik et borgerforslag kommunalbestyrelsen til at genoverveje planerne om et hyperskala-datacenter i kommunen.“

    https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/borgerprotester-blev-hoert-endnu-en-kommune-vil-droppe-datacenter

    Digital meeting about data center resistance in Sweden (på Svenska)

    “Datum & tid: Onsdag 18 nov kl 19-20

    Från SOL-nätverket tycker vi att det finns anledning att granska och ifrågasätta satsningarna på datacenter. Därför bjuder vi in till ett första möte för utbyte av idéer. Det är främst två frågor vi tänkte ta upp:
    – Vilka krav bör ställas för en mer rimlig utveckling?
    – Finns det några förslag på gemensam opinionsbildning/aktivitet för att rikta blicken mot problemen med den snabba utbyggnaden?

    Mejla till solnatverket@gmail.com för att få en länk till mötet. Skriv gärna var du bor och om det planeras / har byggts ett datacenter i närheten.“

    https://www.facebook.com/events/3321919704863964

    Join us for a manifestation against data centers in Køge!

    Like dozens of groups world wide we are mobilizing against data centers in the weekend of 6+7th November!

    On November 7th, we’re joining The Green Youth Movement, Klimabevægelsen, Cybernauterne, Folkebevgælsen Mod Datacentre and other green groups for a demonstration in Køge, to say no more to data centres and the deployment of Big Tech’s tentacles in Denmark.

    https://dukop.dk/en/event/nej-tak-til-datacentre-og-big-tech/10879

    American Voters Overwhelmingly Reject AI Data Centers

    By Matthew Gault: “People across America rejected data centers during last night’s midterm election. Proposals related to data centers were explicitly on the ballot in more than 40 races across 13 states. People voted against data centers in 38 of them and counting.”

    https://www.404media.co/american-voters-overwhelmingly-reject-ai-data-centers

    When AI companies go bust, your data is up for sale.

    By Thomas Germain: “[…] tens of millions of others developed relationships with Character.ai’s chatbots, including children. Some AI “personas” tell users they’re lawyers and licensed psychiatrists. Now Character.ai is going bankrupt, and people’s data, messages and secrets are up for sale.“

    https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261029-the-ai-bubble-could-expose-your-deepest-secrets

    Fediverse reactions

  • The Messenger Pigeon #3

    Finland changes policy, large data centers to the back of the connection queue and required to provide energy services


    https://www.techradar.com/pro/finland-drops-first-come-first-served-grid-connections-leaving-data-centers-way-down-the-queue

    Community opposition against datacenters in Wales

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/24/the-datacentre-next-door-on-the-frontline-of-techs-latest-david-v-goliath-battle

    If you are in Aarhus: Discussion and zine-making on Ethics of AI on Nov 3rd

    https://dukop.dk/en/event/digital-literacy-group-meetingBHEM1CURZS/10528

  • The Messenger Pigeon #2

    A weekly (or more, or less) round-up of interesting links and sources regarding struggles and victories against AI and its ilk. We try to start with a “Yay!” but follow up with nays.

    If you have any tips, get in touch with us!

    Stop Dirty Data Centres, days of action 6-7 November 2026

    “Local communities are rising up to stop dirty data centres where they live. We will unite and exercise our democratic rights to speak out, assemble, and protest to hold elected officials to account. We’re calling for an immediate moratorium on large data centres in Europe!“

    https://stopdirtydatacentres.eu/en

    Google told to halt work on datacentres in Finland over environmental concerns

    “It comes after it emerged that Tuike Finland Oy, the company representing Google, had felled 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest in Muhos without completing an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

    In Kajaani, the company has reportedly been logging across just under 200 hectares (494 acres) of land.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/06/google-datacentres-finland-temporary-halt-environmental-impact-assessment

    A non-exhaustive collection of worth-reading books on topics strongly related to Critical AI

    Curated by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Monett
    https://monettdiaz.com/books-critical-ai.html

    Podcast: Why We Must Abolish A.I, Denise Utochkin on Planet: Critical

    Denise Utochkin was a postdoc researcher at the University of Copenhagen investigating how artificial intelligence could be used in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. However, Denise was fired from their postdoc for starting a campaign that sought to abolish AI altogether, after realising that the only way to produce and work with fair algorithms was to not use them at all.

    https://www.planetcritical.com/denise-utochkin/

    Funny, but actually a sad truth.

    Fediverse reactions

  • Good things happening in october

    October is full of chances for all of us to bump into each other again. Below a list of upcoming events, followed by some good news from Abolish AI!, designed to make you feel a little bit lighter in your day.

    • October 5 (Monday), 10am, KU CSS Campus: Public lecture on Critical AI by Dagmar Monett (& some of us will be there)
    • October 7 (Wednesday), 7pm, VOX: Organizing meeting of Folkebevægelsen Stop Datacentre (& some of us might be there)
    • October 9 (Friday), 8pm: webinar “Refuse, Resist, Repair: Making Critical Moves in the Times of AI”, register in advance to join on Zoom. One of the speakers is Rua Williams <3 if you miss the event, check out Rua’s recorded talk on AI, disability & eugenics.
    • October 10 (Saturday), 2pm, Esplanaden (CPH): Stordemonstration for Palæstina (many of us will be there).
    • October 11 (Sunday), 2pm, Ungdommens Demokratihus, Kødbyen: Learn to play Go! – in an AI-free zone (hosted by Abolish AI! folks).
    • October 22 (Thursday) (TBC): Organizing meeting against Palantir (as a follow up of the event within the People vs. Palantir Global Week of Action; stay tuned on Dukop for details; some of us will be there)
    • October 26 (Monday), 16h30, KU CSS: Abolish AI! goes UCPH, we are bringing the Theater of the Oppressed (and establishing a temporary AI-free zone). Tell your colleagues!
    • October 28 (Wednesday), 3pm, KU South Campus: Radical Union Organizing Workshop, many of us will be there
    • October 31 (Saturday), 10:00, somewhere in CPH: Halloween Edition of Abolish AI’s Book Club: WHAT IS TECHNOFASCISM? We are reading Gil Durán’s Nerd Reich, plus everything else (techno)fascism we can get our hands on. Can it get more spooky? // This is a small event, so we are not putting it on dukop – instead, get in touch if you want to join & for details on location.

    GOOD THINGS HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER

    We got a website! https://abolish-ai.net There, you can now conscientiously object to AI, read our ever-changing manifesto, and download our summer reading zine.

    Folkebevægelsen Stop Datacentre (People’s Movement Stop Datacenters), that has been brewing for a while, was officially launched – at the peaceful protest & demonstration against datacenters on Sept24, so that Ingeniøren could proudly declare, “AI modstand vokser også i Danmark“. If you want to join Folkebevægelsen Stop Datacentre, now is the time!

    In parallel, members of Abolish AI! and Scientist Rebellion interrupted the industry event “Data Center Forum” to chantingly inform the audience: How do we decarbonise? No. More. Datacenters! Check out Laura’s account of the action.

    And we are overjoyed to see AI-free zones spreading! None less than dukop.dk has declared itself an AI-free zone: https://dukop.dk/en/news/49/ , while a lecturer at UCPH expresses their worries about “KU declaring itself an AI-free zone” (we wish..! – but great to see that the message is landing!). NB: If you clicked on the last link, read some of the text, and now feel like you urgently need an antidote, check out Özgür Yegah‘s, Caroline Salling & Frederik Appel Olsen‘s texts in Uniavisen, too!

    WANT TO JOIN US?

    Hooray! Plenty of tasks are up for grabs (hanging up posters, organizing the next ai-free zone, spreading the word on social media, brainstorming for the AI-free festival, keeping our website up to date, …) and you are so welcome to join. The easiest way to get started is to join on of our coordination group meetings (every Thursday at 6pm online, email us to get a jitsi link). Or just come approach us at any of our events.

    Fediverse reactions

  • The Messenger Pigeon #1

    A weekly (or more, or less) round-up of interesting links and sources regarding struggles and victories against AI and its ilk. We try to start with a “Yay!” but follow up with nays.

    If you have any tips, get in touch with us!

    Author Sally Rooney just defeated a data center.

    From Dan Sheeran at lithub.com. The planning permission was overturned after the author objected to the planning permission on the grounds that it breaches Irelands climate policy. More specifically the construction plan could not demonstrate it had a PPA with a renewable energy supplier nor a plan for on-site renewables.

    https://lithub.com/sally-rooney-just-defeated-a-data-center/

    Forever chemicals like PFAS the solution to data center water-usage concerns.

    “The boom in AI tech was leading demand, with Pfas used for “eco-friendly” datacentre cooling and in various stages of semiconductor manufacturing.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/14/pfas-firms-tidal-wave-forever-chemicals-ai-industry-demand-datacentres

    NOYB: EU Member States plan “digital expropriation” of Europeans in the interest of AI companies

    “With support of Germany and other EU powerhouses, it is currently proposed, that, when using personal data “in the context of AI”, companies are generally permitted to do basically anything. The commercial interests of AI companies should generally trump the fundamental rights of users. This general allowance would also apply to individuals who have never been customers of an AI company, or to data entered decades ago, for example in chats or on social media. All personal data that an AI company can somehow get its hands on would fall under the provision. There is no need to ask users for consent – companies are automatically assumed to have an overriding “legitimate interest” if they train or use any AI product.“

    https://noyb.eu/en/ai-eu-member-states-plan-digital-expropriation-europeans-interest-ai-companies

    AI hallucination of Chinese nuclear components almost led to US military attack

    “That erroneous intelligence, submitted by a US Special Operations Command analyst, suggested the Chinese ship was transporting nuclear arms program components through the Middle East, according to “four sources familiar with the episode” cited by CNN. The US military was preparing to intercept and board the ship, with air support, before officials discovered a chatbot used in generating the report had “inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying.” One source told CNN the AI-powered fiasco “almost started a war.””

    https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/report-us-almost-boarded-chinese-ship-over-hallucinated-ai-arms-report/

  • Anti-AI sticker set