Produced by Pause AI, an international activist group that co-organized the protest, it ended with this plea to the reader: “Pause AI until we know what the hell Step 2 is.”

In the South Park episode “Gnomes,” which first aired in 1998, Kenny, Kyle, Cartman, and Stan discover a community of gnomes that sneak out at night to steal underpants from dressers. Why? The gnomes present their pitch deck. “Phase 1: Collect underpants. Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Profit.”

The gnomes’ business plan has since become one of the greats among internet memes, used to satirize everything from startup strategies to policy proposals. Memelord in chief Elon Musk once invoked it in a talk about how he planned to fund a mission to Mars. Right now, it captures the state of AI. Companies have built the tech (Step 1) and promised transformation (Step 3). How they get there is still a big question mark.

As far as Pause AI is concerned, Step 2 must involve some kind of regulation. But exactly what it will call for and who will enforce it are up for debate.