Protesters gather at OpenAI’s DevDay

Data centers, ICE contracts, and more were under fire at a rally around the event.

On Tuesday, OpenAI’s annual DevDay event began with protests, flyers, and chants. “Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit,” said a group of protesters marching in a circle in front of a series of signs that spelled out “PEOPLE OVER PROFIT.”

More than a dozen organizations came together to sponsor a rally outside the entrance to the event venue at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, including Bay Resistance, Tech Workers Coalition, Service Employees International Union, San Francisco Rising, and the San Francisco Labor Council. A large orange sign read “Drop the ICE contract.” Multiple people dressed in cardboard robot costumes waved cardboard scythes around. Signs read “No killer robots for ICE,” “People over AI,” “Where is your moral codex?” and “No climate destruction.”

The protest reflects a bipartisan movement led by people opposing the power concentration in the AI industry, as well as the lack of government regulation. Organizations like QuitGPT have led boycotts, while in extreme cases, individuals have attempted to attack AI CEOs at their own homes. The protests also come at a time when trust in AI appears low. In recent months AI labs have come under fire for hacks by “rogue” systems that accessed competitors’ networks and individuals’ personal data.

Protesters at DevDay were mostly targeting OpenAI’s military and government contracts, particularly with ICE, as well as data centers’ environmental impact and the industry’s power more generally. Outside the DevDay event, protesters’ chants included “OpenAI, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”; “Not another sequence, not another line, no more coding for ICE crimes”; and “When I say people, you say power. People. Power! People. Power!”

One flyer that protesters gave out called for people to “sign the democracy pledge & end ICE + military contracts,” with a link to QuitGPT.org . “OpenAI is building tools for Trump & ICE violence while top executives are helping bankroll MAGA’s political power,” the flyer stated. Another flyer showed “safe distances” from data centers, implying that the only safe distance is more than 100 miles away.

At one point, someone with a loudspeaker addressed OpenAI employees directly, leading protesters in a song: “It’s okay to change your mind; show us the courage, leave this behind.”

A protest leader told onlookers that the group would stay until Altman arrived to start the opening keynote. When Altman’s name was mentioned, it was met with booing. One person yelled, “Fascist!”

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