CSUMB students demonstrate against CSU’s contract with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT.

After a family member’s water ran brown when an AI data center set up shop next to their home, CSU Monterey Bay student Andres Chavez was motivated to attend a protest on campus against the AI that has become ubiquitous on campus.

About 20 people gathered on the Student Union lawn on Monday, Oct. 12. The protesters held up signs against AI to protest California State University’s contract with OpenAI for ChatGPT Edu, citing environmental impacts and the degradation of the ability to think for oneself.

“You should consult your own brain,” says Zara McClure, a first-year marine science student.

Their protest was part of a larger week of action on other CSU campuses. Cori Lopez, organizer of the protest and president of the CSUMB Sunrise Movement chapter, says they sense a broader dislike for AI among students.

CSU partnered with OpenAI in 2025 to provide 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff members with their product, ChatGPT Edu. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT Edu is an enhanced version of its regular chatbot, and can help with data analysis, planning and coursework.

The February 2025 contract cost CSU $17 million for 18 months. They renewed it in 2026, agreeing to pay OpenAI $13 million annually for three years. The tool is provided for free to students.

In a statement, CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said CSU respects the rights of students to voice their opinions, and that higher education has a responsibility to prepare students for shifts in industries due to AI.

The students who use ChatGPT Edu at CSUMB far outnumbered the students protesting against it: About 83 percent of 1,335 CSUMB students polled in 2025 said they used it, according to a San Diego State University poll.

Despite the widespread use, students haven’t completely bought into the technology: Of 1,381 CSUMB students polled, nearly 70 percent said they disagreed with the statement that they trusted AI algorithms to provide accurate information.

A few hundred feet away from the protest, students studied inside the Otter Student Union. There, third-year biology student Robby Torres says that he supported the contract, and that ChatGPT had been helpful with breaking down difficult concepts and planning his schedule.

But as a tutor, he notices some students becoming dependent, reaching for it to do their homework for them. “It’s a useful tool as long as people know not to abuse it,” Torres says.