100 signatures reached
To: Students, Staff and Community
Petition: End USYD’s OpenAI partnership!
We demand that Usyd terminate its contract immediately with OpenAI!
Why is this important?
The University of Sydney has signed a multi-year partnership with OpenAI which will see the introduction of AI agents at all levels of learning , including University wide access to ChatGPT Edu. The partnership also sees a $1 million investment of USyd’s money into the AI Sustainability Research and Innovation Fund, details of which have not been released.
This deal represents an explicit rejection of the demands of university staff to limit the rollout of AI in order to safeguard jobs and working conditions. The mass rollout of OpenAI into the university will lead to higher workloads and potential job losses. At the University of Newcastle, a controversial digital avatar was implemented to teach a first-year programming course, and Macquarie University has offered students Psychology classes with an AI chatbot.
The University should rip up the partnership with OpenAI due to the overwhelmingly negative impacts AI has on workers, the environment and war.
OpenAI has a $200 million deal with the US Department of War. This agreement came after the Trump administration blacklisted AI firm Anthropic over its refusal to remove certain safety restrictions regarding autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. The CEO, Sam Altman, strongly supports Israel, and even met with Netanyahu in 2023.
There are also privacy concerns regarding the mass data harvesting of AI firms. The partnership comes months after USyd suffered a cyber data breach, and weeks after AI agents from OpenAI performed a successful hacking operation against a third-party company.
The environmental impacts of AI data centres are devastating. They use significant quantities of electricity and water and are a massive source of noise and light pollution. Australia’s biggest proposed data centre in western Sydney will generate the same annual emissions as 560,000 petrol cars or all domestic flights. And OpenAI’s Stargate project in New Mexico has its own dedicated gas plant, which has been estimated to generate fourteen MTCO2-e per year, equivalent to wiping out 20 years of climate progress in that state.
The University should not be contributing to the mass expansion of adverse technologies. This partnership will accelerate the implementation of AI technology across the education sector. Sydney Uni should not be normalising the rollout of AI when the harms are numerous and benefits exaggerated.
Sign onto this open letter to demand the University of Sydney immediately terminate their contract with OpenAI!