Published Aug. 14, 2026at6:00am
On the eve of surrendering herself at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, Wynd Kaufmyn was a flurry of activity: tailoring an old pair of jeans while chatting with reporters about her upcoming incarceration, stopping to pick up coffee and doughnuts for her official send-off at the courthouse Friday morning, and preparing for dinner with friends at one of her favorite restaurants, Ben ’N Nick’s in Oakland.
It was, after all, her 69th birthday.
Kaufmyn is a member of StopAI, a protest group dedicated to halting the development of artificial superintelligence. Its members regularly participate in acts of civil disobedience, such as chaining themselves to the doors of AI companies. In February 2025, StopAI made international news when Kaufmyn and four other members were arrested for barricading the entrance to OpenAI’s headquarters. Kaufmyn, according to the group, is now the first person to be convicted and sentenced to jail for protesting what they call “the global race to develop artificial general intelligence.”
She isn’t exactly looking forward to her time in lockup — she expects the food to be awful, for one — but in an interview Thursday, she said she had zero regrets.