A crowd of protesters picketed outside OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters Tuesday evening to condemn the company’s recent deal with the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Protesters chanted slogans through a megaphone while holding signs that read “Sam Altman is watching you” and “QuitGPT” as OpenAI employees inside the skyscraper got ready to wrap up their work for the day. Altman is the CEO of OpenAI.

“What has happened recently with their contract with the Pentagon is absolutely unforgivable,” said rally attendee Rachel Zubrin in an interview. “At this point, there’s nothing left to do but rally the people to hold them accountable.”

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind the AI chatbot ChatGPT, announced over the weekend that it had signed a deal with the Department of Defense to use its AI technology for use across the Pentagon’s classified systems.

“We think the U.S. military absolutely needs strong AI models to support their mission, especially in the face of growing threats from potential adversaries who are increasingly integrating AI technologies into their systems,” said OpenAI in a statement. “A good future is going to require real and deep collaboration between the government and the AI labs.”

The deal came soon after Anthropic, the AI company previously used by the Department of Defense, rejected an offer to change its contract to allow for additional uses of its AI technology in the Pentagon. Those proposed changes, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement, could allow for its AI systems to be used for purposes such as mass domestic surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons. 

“We cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” Amodei said. “In a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do.”

Protesters rally against OpenAI after the company signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

OpenAI’s move to swoop in and accept a contract with the Pentagon has sparked backlash as well as the “QuitGPT” movement to boycott the use of OpenAI’s chatbots. 

Protesters were concerned with what Amodei outlined in his statement — that OpenAI’s technology could be used to create fully autonomous weapons as well as conduct widespread surveillance on Americans.

“This is the future of the warfare that we’re going to be living in and the future of the country that we are going to be living in right now,” Zubrin said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want big brother essentially to be having mass surveillance of all people at all times.”

OpenAI has said that the contract does not allow for its AI systems to be used for mass domestic surveillance nor can be used to create fully autonomous weapons. The company announced Monday that it had amended its contract with the Pentagon to put in additional safeguards. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want big brother essentially to be having mass surveillance of all people at all times.

Rachel Zubrin, protester

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapons systems,” Altman said in a social media post Friday. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them in our agreement.” 

But the new contract language has not eased everyone’s concerns, including Niki Dupuis, a San Francisco resident who participated in the protest. 

“I haven’t seen anything about the deal that they have signed with the [Department of War] that gives me the confidence that they are actually, in fact, setting these red lines as strict as Anthropic was,” Dupuis said in an interview. “I don’t personally feel confident about it yet.”


Left: Protester Rachel Zubrin chants into a megaphone during a rally against OpenAI after the company signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense. Right: Chalk on the sidewalk written in protest against OpenAI. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

Protesters rallied despite strong winds blowing away several signs and security guards enforcing strict boundaries around  OpenAI’s property. Demonstrators also covered the sidewalk in phrases written in chalk, like “Technology in service of humanity, not war,” and “No killer robots.”

“It’s one of the most crucial issues of our times,” Zubrin said. “I want to fight against this and if you want to fight against it too, I highly recommend that you join us.”