An activist has remained atop the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, District of Columbia, protesting the war with Iran and the rapid development of artificial intelligence. Guido Reichstadter, 45, climbed 168 feet up the structure on Friday and said he plans to stay until the war ends. He previously scaled the same bridge in 2022 to protest the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Reichstadter said he was moved to act from the first day of the bombing of Iran and called on Congress to assert its constitutional authority over declarations of war. While acknowledging that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat, he argued that no country should possess nuclear weapons and said lasting safety cannot be achieved through nuclear deterrence.

He described artificial intelligence as an even greater danger, warning that competition among global powers to dominate advanced systems could trigger conflict. Reichstadter, who has been arrested in prior protests targeting artificial intelligence companies in California, said he left his career to focus on activism out of concern for his children’s future and the fate of humanity.