ChatGPT Users Cancel Subscriptions in Protest of OpenAI’s Political Ties

In a striking act of digital dissent, thousands of ChatGPT users are canceling their subscriptions and joining a growing boycott campaign aimed at OpenAI, the artificial intelligence powerhouse behind the world’s most popular chatbot. The movement, dubbed “QuitGPT,” has rapidly gained momentum as users express outrage over the company’s perceived political alignments and recent controversies.

For Stephen, a long-time AI enthusiast who had been experimenting with various chatbots, the breaking point came when he learned about OpenAI president Greg Brockman’s political donation. “That’s really the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he explains. When he canceled his ChatGPT subscription, the platform’s exit survey asked what could have been done to retain him as a customer. His response was unequivocal: “Don’t support the fascist regime.”

This sentiment echoes across a burgeoning community of disaffected users who have taken to platforms like Reddit to share their stories of abandoning the service. The complaints are multifaceted—some users lament what they perceive as declining performance in the latest GPT-5.2 model, while others mock the chatbot’s increasingly sycophantic responses through viral memes. The frustration has even inspired plans for a “Mass Cancellation Party” in San Francisco, a tongue-in-cheek reference to an OpenAI employee’s suggestion of holding a “GPT-4o funeral” to mark the model’s impending retirement.

OpenAI has declined to comment on the growing boycott movement, maintaining its characteristic silence amid mounting criticism.

The scale of ChatGPT’s user base makes this protest particularly noteworthy. As of December 2025, the platform boasted nearly 900 million weekly active users, according to reporting from The Information. While the exact number of boycotters remains unclear, QuitGPT has captured significant attention. A recent Instagram post from the campaign has amassed over 36 million views and 1.3 million likes. The organizers report that more than 17,000 people have signed up through their website, with participants indicating whether they’ve canceled subscriptions, committed to stop using ChatGPT, or pledged to share the campaign on social media.

Dana Fisher, a sociologist at American University, offers a measured perspective on the campaign’s potential effectiveness. “There are lots of examples of failed campaigns like this, but we have seen a lot of effectiveness,” she notes. Fisher explains that while waves of canceled subscriptions rarely influence corporate behavior unless they reach critical mass, there exists a potential pressure point where consumer behavior—specifically using financial decisions to express political opinions—could create meaningful impact.

When contacted by MIT Technology Review, three OpenAI employees indicated they were unfamiliar with the QuitGPT campaign, suggesting the movement may not yet have penetrated the company’s internal awareness.

The boycott’s organizers represent a diverse coalition of left-leaning activists, tech enthusiasts, and grassroots campaigners, primarily consisting of teens and young adults across the United States. Their backgrounds span pro-democracy activism, climate organizing, technology advocacy, and cyber libertarianism. Many bring years of experience in grassroots mobilization to this digital protest.

The campaign found its spark in a viral video posted by Scott Galloway, marketing professor at New York University and host of The Prof G Pod. Galloway argued that the most effective way to counter Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities was to convince people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions. His reasoning was strategic: reducing OpenAI’s subscriber base could trigger negative ripples through the stock market, potentially threatening economic instability that might influence political decisions at the highest levels.

The QuitGPT movement represents a fascinating intersection of technology, politics, and consumer activism in the digital age. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in daily life and corporate influence grows more pronounced, users are discovering new ways to leverage their economic power as a form of political expression. Whether this particular campaign will achieve its goals remains uncertain, but it undeniably signals a growing willingness among tech users to hold AI companies accountable for their perceived political entanglements.

The boycott also raises broader questions about the relationship between technology companies and political power, the responsibilities of AI developers to their user base, and the evolving nature of digital citizenship in an era where algorithms increasingly shape public discourse and private experience.

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