Hundreds protest outside Chapel Hill's G20 Innovation Ministerial, criticizing artificial intelligence

While global technology leaders convened inside the Carolina Inn for the G20 Innovation Ministerial, hundreds of community members took to the street Wednesday morning to protest their presence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Wednesday marks the second and final day of the artificial-intelligence focused conference. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were just some of the high-profile figures meeting on campus, while other industry titans like Tesla CEO Elon Musk attended virtually.

Isabelle Lynn, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill and the press correspondent for the university's chapter of the climate-focused Sunrise Movement, said demonstrators hoped to remind tech billionaires and university leaders that the community is paying attention and has concerns with the future of artificial intelligence. Along with Sunrise UNC, the protest was supported by organizations including UNC Students for Justice in Palestine, UNC NAACP, the Campus Y, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Critics of AI data centers say the facilities produce a constant humming noise. Lynn said that, to flip the script, demonstrators were ready to buzz in the millionaire's ears.

"We want to give Sam Altman a taste of his own medicine," she said.

So as protestors began marching from the Old Well to the Carolina Inn, they brought the noise.

Students and community members called out chants like, "Up up with education, down down with AI nation," and, "Hey hey, ho ho, Sam Altman has got to go," while others banged on pots and pans, blew kazoos, and even squeezed rubber chickens to ensure the billionaires inside the Carolina Inn could hear their outrage. Although demonstrators united under an anti-AI-stance, many also held signs criticizing Flock cameras and the Trump administration.

In a message to students sent Friday, university leadership said UNC-Chapel Hill is not affiliated with or sponsoring the G20 ministerial, but has remained "actively engaged with the Carolina Inn to help minimize any potential disruptions to campus given its location."

UNC police and Chapel Hill police cars lined W. Cameron Avenue, and officers stood in front of the Carolina Inn to keep demonstrators off the lawn. Officers repeatedly instructed protestors to keep the street clear or risk arrest — about an hour into the protest, officers erected metal fences to block off portions of the road. Still, the protest remained peaceful; no altercations or arrests appeared to occur, and the crowd began to disband around noon.

One group of UNC-Chapel Hill first-years said they were protesting the lack of government regulation and invasions of privacy from AI and Flock technology. Others shared similar concerns about the people involved, the environmental impacts of AI and the role UNC-Chapel Hill administration played in hosting the conference. An organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation who identified themselves as Lucia scorned Chancellor Lee Robert's dedication to AI and implementation of Flock cameras.

"The university, our public university, has sanctioned the presence of an international summit that will be making decisions about the future of AI, our future, in the name of profit. UNC calls this safe, but none of us feel safe," they said in an address to attendees.

Flyers across campus offered students $30 to "get paid to protest" with a phone number to contact for further details, but student organizers said the messaging was not from any affiliated organizations. When WUNC News texted the number, a respondent texted back that the funds stemmed from a "3rd party investor" who they identified one as "an alum who is very anti ai." However, the same phone number sent a text blast Monday afternoon saying they will no longer be holding their protest.

Retired faculty members Sally Stearns, Kathleen Dalton and Tim Carey said they decided to protest given their major concerns about both the technology and Chapel Hill's role in hosting the conference.

Dalton said she doesn't want UNC associated with the big tech leadership, with Carey and Stearns adding that while they don't expect billionaires to have any reaction to the demonstration, they need to know the community disapproves of their work.

"We think advancing computing and AI could be great tools," Carey said. "What they're using it for is ginning up stock prices for their own health."

"And the ability to control the world," Dalton added.