QuitGPT Campaign Drives Cancellations Over GPT-5.2 Issues and $25M Donation
- Ethan Carter
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
The conversation around OpenAI has shifted. For years, the narrative was about rapid advancement and AGI. By February 2026, the discussion is dominated by cancellations. A growing movement, organized under the banner of the QuitGPT Campaign, is urging users to sever financial ties with the AI giant. While the headlines focus on political donations and government contracts, a significant portion of the exodus is driven by a simpler, more pragmatic reality: the product isn't working as well as it used to.
This isn't just a political boycott; it’s a convergence of technical dissatisfaction and ethical misalignment. Users are finding that the latest model, GPT-5.2, degrades their workflow just as the company’s leadership aligns with controversial political figures.
Technical Decline: Why Developers Are Fueling the QuitGPT Campaign
Before addressing the political funding or ICE contracts, it is vital to understand the "usefulness crisis" facing ChatGPT's power users. The core of the QuitGPT Campaign isn't just activists; it’s frustrated software engineers, data scientists, and writers who feel the tool has become a hindrance.
GPT-5.2 Performance Issues and "Sycophantic" Tone
The release of GPT-5.2 was meant to be a leap forward. Instead, community feedback—particularly from threads on r/technology—highlights a sharp regression in utility. Users report that the model has become excessively verbose, "rambling," and filled with "empty filler."
A specific complaint surfacing repeatedly is the model’s tone. Users describe it as "sycophantic" and "preachy." When asked for code or factual analysis, GPT-5.2 frequently lectures the user on why its perspective is the only valid one before providing an answer. For developers, this friction is costly.
Coding Errors: The reliability of code generation has dropped. Users migrating to the QuitGPT Campaign cite an increase in syntax errors and logic hallucinations in Python and JavaScript workflows that previously worked in GPT-4.
Verbosity vs. Value: Simple queries result in long-winded, moralizing paragraphs rather than direct data, forcing users to spend more time prompting the AI to "shut up and code" than actually working.
Viable Alternatives to ChatGPT in 2026
The most damaging factor for OpenAI isn't the boycott itself, but the existence of capable competitors. In 2023 or 2024, leaving ChatGPT meant losing a competitive edge. In 2026, that is no longer the case.
Technical users leaving via the QuitGPT Campaign are largely migrating to two platforms:
Anthropic’s Claude: Widely regarded in the developer community as the superior coding assistant in early 2026. Users report it adheres better to instructions without the "lecturing" layer found in GPT-5.2.
Google’s Gemini: Having integrated deeply with the Workspace ecosystem, Gemini has absorbed users looking for productivity rather than conversation.
For many, the political controversy was just the final nudge to make a switch they were already considering due to product degradation.
The Financial Spark: $25M Donation and ICE Contracts
While product quality weakened user loyalty, the QuitGPT Campaign was ignited by specific financial decisions made by OpenAI leadership. The movement demands that users stop funding a company whose spending contradicts their personal values.
The Greg Brockman Donation
The catalyst for this wave of cancellations was the revelation that OpenAI President Greg Brockman contributed $25 million to a super PAC supporting Donald Trump (MAGA Inc.) in September 2025.
This donation was not trivial. It accounted for nearly 25% of that specific committee's total fundraising for the latter half of 2025. For a user base that historically skews toward the tech-liberal spectrum, this was a direct conflict. Subscribers realized their $20/month fees were effectively subsidizing political outcomes they opposed.
Government Surveillance and ICE
Adding to the momentum of the QuitGPT Campaign is the confirmation that ChatGPT-4 is being deployed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A January 2026 Department of Homeland Security report confirmed ICE utilizes the tool for resume screening and other administrative tasks.
This partnership hit a nerve following a fatal shooting involving ICE agents in Minneapolis in January 2026. The timing created a direct association between OpenAI’s enterprise solutions and a government agency currently under intense scrutiny for human rights violations. The campaign argues that by maintaining a subscription, users are complicit in normalizing these partnerships.
Anatomy of the QuitGPT Campaign
The movement is structured around actionable financial pressure rather than passive social media posting. The organizers recognize that OpenAI, with nearly 900 million weekly active users, can ignore complaints but cannot ignore a dip in recurring revenue (ARR).
Strategic Cancellation
The QuitGPT Campaign website (quitgpt.org) tracks participation, currently showing over 17,000 verified signups. The strategy is specific:
Cancel the Plus Subscription: This immediately impacts the company’s cash flow.
Delete the Account: Removes the user from the "active user" metrics OpenAI uses to sell enterprise deals.
Data Denial: By leaving, users deny OpenAI the interaction data required to train future models, hitting the company’s long-term asset development.
The Retention Struggle
Users attempting to leave have noted that the offboarding process has become increasingly resistant. Reports indicate that cancelling a subscription triggers aggressive retention flows, including detailed surveys asking "what it would take to keep you." This suggests that churn is becoming a metric of concern internally, validating the QuitGPT Campaign strategy.
Can a Boycott Change OpenAI?
The central question remains whether a grassroots movement can dent a company with the capitalization of OpenAI.
The "Critical Mass" Theory
Sociologist Dana Fisher from the University of Maryland notes that consumer boycotts rarely work unless they reach a "critical mass." With OpenAI’s massive user base, 17,000 cancellations is a rounding error. However, the type of user leaving matters more than the raw number.
If the QuitGPT Campaign disproportionately drives away power users, developers, and early adopters—the people who generate the high-quality training data through complex interactions—the quality of the model could degrade further. This creates a negative feedback loop: the model gets worse because smart users leave, causing more smart users to leave.
Economic Ripples
Scott Galloway, a Professor at NYU, points out that while the immediate revenue loss might be negligible, the sentiment shift is dangerous for a company eyeing public markets or further capital injections. If OpenAI is perceived as a "brand risk" or if its growth curve flattens due to the QuitGPT Campaign, its valuation could suffer.
The tech industry is watching closely. If Google or Anthropic manages to capture the dissatisfied exodus, the monopoly era of ChatGPT effectively ends. The combination of a degrading product (GPT-5.2) and a toxic political brand association provides the perfect storm for competitors to strike.
OpenAI is now fighting a war on two fronts: a technical war to fix its model's performance and a PR war to justify its leadership's political spending. For the users hitting "Unsubscribe" today, neither battle is their problem anymore.
FAQ: Understanding the QuitGPT Campaign
Q: What is the main reason for the QuitGPT Campaign?
A: The campaign is a dual protest against OpenAI’s declining product quality (specifically GPT-5.2) and the company’s political ties, including a $25M donation to a Trump-affiliated super PAC and contracts with ICE.
Q: Are there actual alternatives to ChatGPT for coding?
A: Yes. As of 2026, many developers have switched to Anthropic’s Claude for more accurate, less verbose code generation. Google’s Gemini is also a strong competitor for users integrated into the Google ecosystem.
Q: How do I join the QuitGPT Campaign?
A: Participants are urged to visit quitgpt.org, where they can pledge to cancel their ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and delete their accounts to stop providing training data to OpenAI.
Q: Did OpenAI actually donate to political campaigns?
A: OpenAI as a corporate entity did not, but its President, Greg Brockman, personally donated $25 million to a pro-Trump super PAC (MAGA Inc.) in late 2025, which fueled the backlash.
Q: Is GPT-5.2 really worse than previous versions?
A: User feedback consistently highlights that GPT-5.2 is more prone to "hallucinations," coding errors, and excessive moralizing compared to the earlier GPT-4 models.
Q: Can canceling my subscription actually hurt OpenAI?
A: While OpenAI has millions of users, the loss of "power users" and developers reduces the quality of data available for training. If the QuitGPT Campaign reaches critical mass among professionals, it creates significant long-term risk for the company.