Cal Poly students protest Cal State’s OpenAI partnership

Cal Poly students staged a walkout in opposition of the Cal State OpenAI partnership on Oct. 20. The protest, organized by Tech for Liberation, Social Justice for Palestine and the Young Democratic Socialists of America, began on Dexter Lawn at 11 a.m.  

Around 40 attendees participated in the walkout, which made its way from Dexter Lawn to the University Union. Students created signs demonstrating their concern with the Cal State’s partnership with ChatGPT. They felt angry that students had no say in the contract. 

Signs and chants called out OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for supporting President Donald Trump while other chants addressed the ChatGPT EDU partnership.

The protest came in response to the three-year, $39 million contract with Cal State and OpenAI, which gave students free access to ChatGPT EDU. The Cal State will pay $13 million annually for a subscription to ChatGPT Edu, a version targeted towards universities.

Student organizers started planning the walkout two weeks ago, with hopes of bringing awareness to the Cal State contract and lack of student input.

“There were no students asked, there was no democratic process,” said Tobias Halpern, a business administration freshman and Tech for Liberation event coordinator. 

The walkout opened with the chant, “cancel chat, invest in humans, f— AI, it makes you stupid.”

In total, the Cal State system has spent $56 million, with an initial 18-month $17 million agreement in January 2025 and the subsequent May 2026 three-year $39 million contract, according to a report by EdSource.

Cal Poly students are calling for accountability from the Cal State and President Jeffrey Armstrong to listen to student apprehension and take their voices into consideration.

“It’s specifically to democratize the payment process because right now the department doesn’t really get to decide where the money goes,” said Joshua Milton, wine and viticulture freshman and Young Democratic Socialists of America member. “Software engineers are gonna want to use AI because it’s really helpful for that. But for the arts department and the music department, that’s money taken from them that they’re not gonna use at all.”