LONDON — A woman disrupted Canva's AI Vision event in London and left the internet divided after video of her protest went viral.
The incident happened on September 15 at Magazine London during the UK edition of Canva's AI Vision series, a paid event running from 3pm to 8pm that brought together figures from tech, marketing and creative industries including Canva co-founder Cameron Adams and UK Minister for AI Kanishka Narayan.
Video posted by grassroots group Pull The Plug shows an activist climbing onto her seat and addressing the room and the stage where three panelists were seated under a large screen reading "AI Vision HOSTED BY Canva".
"You say that this is for people, but everyday people are afraid," she said.
In the video that now has over 227K likes, 17.4K comments and 46.3K shares on Facebook, the activist said:
"People are afraid when we hear that AI has a 10 percent chance of killing us all within a decade. People are afraid when 500 operational data centres are leading two-thirds of the country into drought."
She continued: "AI steals from people. Best-case scenario, the men handling this technology are completely incompetent. Worst-case scenario, we are all being led into a disaster."
"Where is the transparency? Where is the regulation? Where is the vote? Have any of us had a referendum or a vote on any of this?"
She called for a moratorium on data centres and for everyday people to have a voice on AI, not Big Tech billionaires.
The group later posted: "We just disrupted AI Vision, hosted by Canva in London. This event was a hotpot of Big Tech investors and AI startup founders, optimistically discussing the future of AI – but this is a future we can refuse."
Security escorted her out after her speech. The audience sat in near silence throughout, a detail that viewers online noticed.
Since the video went online, people have remained divided over what she said. Some praised her as brave, commenting "She stood for humanity" and supporting a pause on data centre expansion over concerns about water, electricity, and local community impacts. Others called the disruption inappropriate and argued AI development should continue, defending innovation and efficiency gains.
Pull The Plug says it wants ordinary people to have more say in how AI is introduced, including concerns about surveillance tech and the resource use of data centres.
Sources: DesignTAXI, Times Now, WIO News.
