Protesters gather at OpenAI's DevDay

On Tuesday, OpenAI's annual DevDay event in San Francisco began with protests, flyers, and chants outside Fort Mason. Demonstrators chanted "Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit."

“Sam Altman, get off it, put people over profit.”

More than a dozen groups organized the rally

More than a dozen organizations sponsored the rally, including Bay Resistance, Tech Workers Coalition, Service Employees International Union, San Francisco Rising, and the San Francisco Labor Council.

Protesters focused on ICE and military contracts

Protesters targeted OpenAI's military and government contracts, particularly with ICE, as well as data centers' environmental impact and the industry's power concentration. Signs read "Drop the ICE contract" and "No killer robots for ICE."

“Drop the ICE contract.”

Protesters chanted about genocide and violence

Outside DevDay, protesters chanted "OpenAI, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide" and "Not another sequence, not another line, no more coding for ICE crimes."

“OpenAI, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.”

Flyers called for ending military contracts

Protesters distributed flyers calling people to "sign the democracy pledge and end ICE plus military contracts" with a link to QuitGPT dot org. Another flyer showed safe distances from data centers, implying only more than one hundred miles away is safe.

“sign the democracy pledge & end ICE + military contracts”

Protesters addressed employees and awaited Altman

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 said the group would stay until Altman arrived for the opening keynote.

“It's okay to change your mind; show us the courage, leave this behind.”