Protesters gather at OpenAI’s DevDay
On Tuesday, OpenAI's annual DevDay event began with protests, flyers, and chants. "Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit," said a group of protesters marching in a circle in front of a series of signs that spelled out "PEOPLE OVER PROFIT." More than a dozen organizations came together to sponsor a rally outside the entrance to the event venue at San Francisco's Fort Mason, including Bay Resistance, Tech Workers Coalition, Service Employees International Union, San Francisco Rising, and the San Francisco Labor Council. A large orange sign read "Drop the ICE contract." Multiple people dressed in cardboard robot costumes waved cardbo … Read the full story at The Verge.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Protesters gather at OpenAI’s DevDay
Data centers, ICE contracts, and more were under fire at a rally around the event.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Photo by Hayden Field / The Verge
OpenAI DevDay 2026: The biggest news and announcements
is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets.
On Tuesday, OpenAI’s annual DevDay event began with protests, flyers, and chants. “Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit,” said a group of protesters marching in a circle in front of a series of signs that spelled out “PEOPLE OVER PROFIT.”
More than a dozen organizations came together to sponsor a rally outside the entrance to the event venue at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, including Bay Resistance, Tech Workers Coalition, Service Employees International Union, San Francisco Rising, and the San Francisco Labor Council. A large orange sign read “Drop the ICE contract.” Multiple people dressed in cardboard robot costumes waved cardboard scythes around. Signs read “No killer robots for ICE,” “People over AI,” “Where is your moral codex?” and “No climate destruction.”
The protest reflects a bipartisan movement led by people opposing the power concentration in the AI industry, as well as the lack of government regulation. Organizations like QuitGPT have led boycotts, while in extreme cases, individuals have attempted to attack AI CEOs at their own homes. The protests also come at a time when trust in AI appears low. In recent months AI labs have come under fire for hacks by “rogue” systems that accessed competitors’ networks and individuals’ personal data.
Protesters at DevDay were mostly targeting OpenAI’s military and government contracts, particularly with ICE, as well as data centers’ environmental impact and the industry’s power more generally. Outside the DevDay event, protesters’ chants included “OpenAI, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”; “Not another sequence, not another line, no more coding for ICE crimes”; and “When I say people, you say power. People. Power! People. Power!”
One flyer that protesters gave out called for people to “sign the democracy pledge & end ICE + military contracts,” with a link to QuitGPT.org. “OpenAI is building tools for Trump & ICE violence while top executives are helping bankroll MAGA’s political power,” the flyer stated. Another flyer showed “safe distances” from data centers, implying that the only safe distance is more than 100 miles away.
At one point, someone with a loudspeaker addressed OpenAI employees directly, leading protesters in a song: “It’s okay to change your mind; show us the courage, leave this behind.”
A protest leader told onlookers that the group would stay until Altman arrived to start the opening keynote. When Altman’s name was mentioned, it was met with booing. One person yelled, “Fascist!”
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
More in: OpenAI DevDay 2026: The biggest news and announcements
ChatGPT now has 1.2 billion weekly users, OpenAI says.
OpenAI is adding a $500 / month ChatGPT Pro tier.
OpenAI launches Dots, its Muse competitor
Bose’s first wired earbuds in 11 years add noise canceling
Trump finalizes rule to make cars less fuel efficient
OpenAI keeps bulldozing mathematicians
Volkswagen replaces ID.4 with all-electric Tiguan
Nothing’s new flagship Headphone 1 Pro put you in the studio
A free daily digest of the news that matters most.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
This is the title for the native ad