- QuitGPT is a movement encouraging ChatGPT subscribers to cancel
- The organizers point to OpenAI leadership donations and government AI contracts as reasons to do so
- The campaign has gained traction with thousands pledging online to quit
ChatGPT’s massive popularity is facing a snag from an unexpected direction. The QuitGPT movement was created by a loose coalition of activists and digital organizers when public records revealed OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife each donated $12.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.
The group’s list of reasons to avoid spending money on OpenAI products like ChatGPT has since expanded to include criticism of the company making deals with federal agencies to offer AI tools powered by OpenAI models. OpenAI has not publicly responded to the campaign, but QuitGPT has quickly become one of the most visible attempts yet to weaponize subscription economics against a major AI company.
The numbers are difficult to verify independently, but organizers say more than 17,000 people have signed pledges on the campaign’s website, declaring they have canceled or will cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions.
The Brockman donations being made public last month were a tipping point for many organizers. They were joined by others for whom the fact that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employs a résumé screening system powered by an OpenAI model was the last straw. ICE is facing fierce criticism at the moment, and ChatGPT’s connection to the agency, however tenuous, could affect its ambitions as a company.
The idea that ChatGPT subscriptions might indirectly support a company whose tools are embedded in controversial federal operations gave the boycott a moral narrative beyond simple partisan disagreement.
QuitGPT retreat
The reasoning is only part of what makes QuitGPT stand out among boycott efforts. The shape of the target itself is unusual. ChatGPT is not a sneaker, a beverage, or other traditional consumer product. ChatGPT is a digital assistant integrated into the personal and professional lives of many people in myriad unique ways.
To cancel ChatGPT means more than just choosing another, similar drink or footwear; it’s a sincere, practical inconvenience. It’s a deeper trade-off for those who rely heavily on ChatGPT.
Political frustration, combined with the standard product critique that every iteration of ChatGPT faces, which has increased since OpenAI dropped the popular GPT-4o model, and introduced sponsored links on the platform, has produced a broader sense of disillusionment and a willingness to push back against the parent company.
OpenAI launched as a nonprofit that was looking out for humanities interests in the race to create Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). It switch from being a nonprofit company last year to being a for-profit company, which disappointed many.
In the meantime, competitors such as Google with Gemini and Anthropic with Claude stand ready to absorb users who are willing to migrate. The QuitGPT website encourages exploring alternatives.
Whether digital tools can remain politically neutral is a question that increasingly looks to have only a negative answer. Technology companies once might have cultivated apolitical reputations and objected to being linked to the politics of their customers. That wouldn’t fly anymore, given how many care about the leadership donations, government contracts, and policy positions of the companies they engage with.
Even if QuitGPT does not dramatically alter ChatGPT subscription numbers, it highlights a shift in how AI companies are perceived. Performance and novelty only contribute some of the value. Other AI CEOs might take away a salient lesson in political and ethical transparency if they still want to be in the AI business next year.
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ESchwartzwrites@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz)
