SDSU students call on university system to cancel contract with OpenAI

A few dozen San Diego State University students marched to the campus's student union on Tuesday. They called for the California State University system to end its contract with OpenAI. CSU first entered into a no-bid, $17 million contract with OpenAI in 2025. It gave students, faculty and staff access to an educational version of ChatGPT. The previous school year, campuses across the university system cut jobs to offset an ongoing budget crisis. CSU later renewed the OpenAI contract for another three years for $39 million. The students’ signs reflected wide-reaching concerns beyond job loss: OpenAI’s co-founder funding President Donald Trump’s interests; the use of artificial intelligence by immigration enforcement and the Israeli military; the environmental harm caused by data centers.