tech
March 4, 2026
Quit ChatGPT: Right Now! Your Subscription Is Bankrolling Authoritarianism
As a historian, I've studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley.
TL;DR
- OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is facing significant financial losses and a declining market share.
- A grassroots boycott, QuitGPT, is gaining traction, with over a million participants cancelling subscriptions.
- The boycott was triggered by OpenAI president Greg Brockman's substantial donation to a Trump Super Pac.
- ChatGPT has been used by ICE for screening and is involved in a lobbying effort against AI regulation.
- Anthropic, a competitor, refused to provide technology to the Pentagon for surveillance and autonomous weapons, facing retaliation from the Trump administration.
- OpenAI subsequently signed a deal with the Pentagon, filling the void left by Anthropic.
- The author stresses this is not anti-AI but against funding companies that support authoritarianism.
- Effective boycotts are narrow and easy, like the Montgomery bus boycott, and QuitGPT fits this model.
- Cancelling ChatGPT is easy (10 seconds) with readily available alternatives, unlike boycotting platforms like Facebook or Amazon.
- The success of historical boycotts like Nestlé and Bud Light was due to their narrow targets and accessibility.
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