A grassroots boycott called QuitGPT is gaining momentum, urging users to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions in protest of OpenAI's ties to Donald Trump and its collaboration with US immigration enforcement. The movement, which has already attracted over a million supporters including celebrities Mark Ruffalo and Katy Perry, is now calling on Europeans to join.
The boycott was triggered by revelations that OpenAI president Greg Brockman donated $25m to Maga Inc, Trump's largest Super Pac, making him the former president's top donor last cycle. Brockman defended the donation as serving OpenAI's mission to benefit 'humanity'. Critics point to OpenAI's technology being used by ICE, the US immigration agency, to screen potential employees for deportation raids.
OpenAI has also launched a $125m lobbying initiative to prevent states from regulating AI, aiming to let Trump alone set rules for the technology. Last week, when competitor Anthropic refused to give the Pentagon unrestricted access to its AI for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, Trump retaliated by banning federal agencies from using its technology. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman then signed a deal with the Pentagon to take Anthropic's place.
Historian Rutger Bregman, who studies consumer boycotts, argues that QuitGPT is effective because it is narrow and easy. OpenAI is financially vulnerable, losing $14bn this year with market share dropping from 69% to 45%. Every subscription cancellation hurts, and investors are watching closely. Bregman calls this 'one of the most significant consumer boycotts in recent memory'.
