Protest at OpenAI DevDay at Fort Mason: "No Killer Robots for ICE, War and Fascism"

Photos and video here and here 

(San Francisco, CA)— About 100 members of immigrant rights, labor, faith and climate groups, including Bay Resistance and the Sunrise Movement, rallied outside OpenAI's DevDay event at Fort Mason with banners and robot costumes. The coalition called on OpenAI to stop contracting with ICE and the military, to sign the Businesses for Democracy Pledge and for the public to quit ChatGPT.

The protest targeted OpenAI's $200M contract with the Department of War, which opens the door to domestic mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons. ICE also screens recruits for its ICE deportation force with a hiring tool built on OpenAI's GPT-4.

 "We are out here protesting Open AI to say stop contracting with the military for endless war, stop letting ICE use open AI tools to kidnap our community members and stop supporting politicians that are trying to cling to power by rigging our elections. Open AI suddenly now claiming that they support regulation is completely untrue and a complete distraction. They are supporting Trump because they don’t want real regulation, the kind that would ensure AI technology actually benefits working people and doesn’t destroy the climate and future generations. Sam Altman should sign the democracy pledge to stand on the right side of history," said Jane Martin, Organizing Director at Bay Resistance.

 The coalition also pointed to OpenAI's political spending. OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife gave $25M to Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., the largest donation in its 2025 year-end filing. The Brockmans also gave $25M to Leading the Future, a $140M+ AI industry super PAC that has spent millions attacking candidates who support AI regulation.

 Speakers also raised the local cost of OpenAI's growth. That includes a possible IPO that could put more pressure on Bay Area housing, data center expansion that drives up electricity prices, and AI that's already cutting an estimated 16,000 US jobs a month, according to Goldman Sachs.

 In a message to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, 16 year old Kit from Sunrise Movement said, "Sam: our lives and our planet are more important than your stock price. We will not allow you to destroy our lives, our environment, our city, our Bay Area, for your own gain. You and the rest of your billionaire friends, alongside your fascist loyalists in the White House, want us to accept the destruction of our planet, but we will not accept the destruction of our futures."

 The coalition is asking OpenAI to sign the Democracy Pledge at [link] and the public to join the QuitGPT campaign at [link].