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.
Claudia Gonzalez questioned whether AI is even good for them.
“A lot of students nowadays don’t know how to write sentences. They don’t know how to write paragraphs, even basic emails. So, it’s really not good for us at all,” Gonzalez said, who interns for the student-led activist organization Students for Quality Education.
A 2025 CSU survey found widespread use but mixed feelings about AI among staff and students. The majority were skeptical that it was benefiting education overall.
And while most students said they used ChatGPT, the vast majority said they used the free version — not the version paid for and provided by CSU.
University system leaders, meanwhile, claim the contract as a win.
CSU Chancellor Mildred García wrote in a 2025 systemwide email that CSU was establishing itself “as the nation’s first and largest AI-powered public university system.”
“No other university system in the U.S. or internationally is doing anything like this, not at this scale,” she said at a press conference announcing the partnership with OpenAI.
“The CSU respects the rights of our students to voice their opinions on matters important to them,” said CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith by email Tuesday. “AI is fundamentally changing how people learn and work across nearly every industry. Higher education cannot ignore this shift and must approach it thoughtfully and responsibly. By providing resources and training for students, the CSU is working toward ensuring graduates are prepared for a rapidly evolving economy where AI fluency is increasingly essential.”
Gonzalez warned that AI’s harm would eventually impact everyone.
“A lot of people may think that it’s not affecting them, but it’s coming,” she said.
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