Background

• Government action is critical for AI safety regulation.
• Well-funded industry opposition has made reforms slow and incremental.
• Populist support is vast — 73% of Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, favor better AI governance.

Theory of Change

We believe that large-scale mobilization is needed to accelerate policy.

• Build a political base through one-on-one outreach and community events
• Win public support through effective demonstrations, drawn from past social movements
• Challenge politicians to take a stand on AI governance with nonviolent direct action

Traction

• Conducted 50+ in-depth voter interviews.
• Achieved a 90% conversion rate with chosen messaging (from in-person contact to event sign-up)
• Building relations with senior Republican officials. Begun advocacy in California and Utah.
• Built organizer guide and website

Rohan Prasad(founder)

• Ran media & operations at Constellation; previously, president of Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy, and organizer with Direct Action Everywhere

• Drove statewide campaign for University of California to drop cruel meat suppliers; co-founded activist community center in Berkeley

See theory of change above. Below is the roadmap and FAQ about the theory of change.

Roadmap

• Phase 1: Seed Cities. CA Governor passes numerous Executive Orders for AI safety.
• Phase 2: Multi-state Expansion. Comprehensive safety laws passed in CA, FL, TX, and NY.
• Phase 3: National Moment. Decisive action by Congress.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Sapiens First compare with other actors in this space?

• Strategy. We use community organizing and non-violent direct action (Outside Game) rather than petitions or lobbying (Inside Game).
• Focus. We target local politicians and state governments first (the same approach taken by advocates for Marriage Equality).

This combination of Outside Game and Local-first advocacy distinguishes us from actors like Encode, Humans First, Humans in Control, and PauseAI, which all do primarily Inside Game Advocacy.

How do you combat political polarization?

Concern about AI crosses party lines. We frame the issue around concentration of power and democracy, which:

• Ties safety to highly salient issues like cost of living, corruption, and job loss.
• Resonates across the political spectrum. We'll continue to refine our messaging over time.

What are your policy objectives?

We're pro-stronger regulation on AI, not a pause AI development. Specific policies may look like pre-deployment auditing, transparency measures, and strict liability on frontier labs.

However, our focus is building public support and political will for AI safety, not promoting specific policies. This approach complements work done by inside game advocates (like Encode or SAIP), and allows them to get more done!

Won't too many people engaged in a movement lead to bad policy?

Movements that combine inside and outside game strategies produce the best policy outcomes. In the Tea Party Movement (2007–2010), for example, grassroots activists built political will that gave Republican lobbyists the opening to advance a libertarian agenda.

What makes protest an effective strategy?

Protests force neutral parties (local & state politicians) to choose a side on the issue. This isolates the active opposition (industry lobbyists) and makes their position untenable (see the Spectrum of Allies). Past social movements have created rapid shifts in policy with this approach:

• Civil rights activists used sit-ins, marches, and boycotts to change public opinion, and won the Civil Rights Act under a conservative President.
• During the AIDS epidemic, gay rights activists used disruptive tactics (die-ins, disruptions) to significant accelerate NIH funding of AIDS therapy research.

Empirical research strongly supports this approach (see Why Civil Resistance Works and*Do Political Protests Matter?*).

How do you plan to get enough people involved?

We train activists to run events and recruit others, creating a flywheel of exponential growth. See sapiensfirst.org/learn for more details.

Are you a 501(c)(3) or something else?

We are a 501(c)(3). We primarily do movement-building and advocacy, not electoral politics or lobbying. We may form a 501(c)(4) entity in the future.

Min amount:

• Founder's living expenses to work on this full-time ($2,500 / month)
• Digital operations (email list, Claude, Asana) ($150/month)
• Props / flyers for demonstrations ($500 / month)
• Backend developer (India) to build AI-driven marketing / operations ($700/month)
• Venue fees for in-person events ($1000/month)

Ideal amount: $750k for 9 months of full-team operations — runway may extend further depending on how fast we hire. Compensation benchmarked against comparable advocacy roles, including ~25% for benefits.

• Personnel — $478,000. Includes Executive Director ($113k), Chief of Staff ($103k), Political Director ($103k), Operations Generalist ($66k), Community Organizer in Sacramento ($55k), and Marketing Director, part-time ($38k) (amounts are for 9 months of pay + 25% benefits).
• Field & Talent — $42,000. Includes travel & field visits, conferences & networking, and recruiting, postings & assessments.
• Core Operations — $45,000. Includes accounting & bookkeeping, legal compliance, and technology tools & subscriptions.
• Digital Operations — $50,000. Includes video production & editing, paid digital advertising, and email/CRM platform.
• Community Support — $135,000. Includes event food & materials, action props & signage, event space, and contingency.