在美国各大校园，这股反弹已经体现在抗议、请愿、社团活动和表演艺术之中。在印第安纳波利斯大学，Cassidy Rexroad 组织了一场针对 AI 峰会的抗议，该活动吸引了约 100 人参加，门票费用最高达 199 美元；她则主张 AI 正在侵蚀批判性思考与人际连结。这种反 AI 氛围也与 Gen Z 情绪恶化有关，文中引用的 Gallup 民调显示，在 2025 年 3 月 6 日至 13 日与 2026 年 2 月 24 日至 3 月 4 日两次调查之间，对 AI 的感受有所下降。除了大学之外，AI 产业也面临更广泛的抵制，包括反对资料中心的社区、OpenAI 总部外的抗议，以及在中佛罗里达大学和亚利桑那大学，毕业典礼演讲者宣传 AI 时遭到公众嘘声。
学生的抵抗在艺术领域，以及围绕机构优先顺序和气候成本的辩论中最为强烈。Luddite Club 如今在美国已有 30 多个分会，而 Columbia 的行动者要求学校取消高级 AI 存取权和新的 AI 学位课程；同时，Berklee 学生抗议一门关于 AI 生成音乐的课程，并质疑生成式 AI 是否违反反抄袭规则。在 Alaska Fairbanks 大学，Graham Granger 于 1 月因拆下并吃掉一个 AI 艺术展的一部分而被逮捕，尽管此案后来被撤销；在 Grand Valley State University，2 月宣布为市中心科技枢纽发行 1.39 亿美元债券后，隔月退休医疗福利遭削减并出现裁员。学生认为这些政策确实伴随代价，特别是在 AI 基础设施的能源需求引发对气候破坏的担忧，以及对高等教育未来由谁掌控的疑虑之际。
University of South Carolina’s $1.5 million partnership with OpenAI was sold by administrators as a way to improve research, time management, and 24/7 learning support, but many students see it as a threat to the environment, misinformation, privacy, and jobs. Brooklyn Tyner, 20, called ChatGPT a cheating machine and said that at the school’s first AI Day, a handwritten campus vote ran 9-to-1 against the partnership among people who stopped to respond. The campus dispute reflects a broader scramble by OpenAI and Anthropic to win college users through school deals, student influencers, and campus clubs, while employers increasingly treat AI fluency as a hiring expectation and many professors move to add AI into coursework.
The backlash has become visible in protests, petitions, club activity, and performance art across US campuses. At the University of Indianapolis, Cassidy Rexroad organized a protest against an AI Summit that drew about 100 people and cost as much as $199 to attend, while she argued that AI is eroding critical thinking and human connection. The anti-AI mood is also tied to worsening Gen Z sentiment, with Gallup polling cited in the article showing declining feelings about AI between surveys fielded March 6-13, 2025, and Feb. 24-March 4, 2026. Beyond universities, the AI industry faces broader resistance from communities opposing data centers, protests at OpenAI’s headquarters, and public boos for commencement speakers promoting AI at the University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona.
Student resistance is strongest in the arts and in debates over institutional priorities and climate costs. The Luddite Club now has more than 30 chapters in the US, and Columbia activists have demanded that the university cancel premium AI access and new AI degree programs, while Berklee students have protested a course on AI-generated music and questioned whether generative AI violates anti-plagiarism rules. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Graham Granger was arrested in January after tearing down and eating part of an AI art exhibit, though the case was later dropped; at Grand Valley State University, a February announcement of $139 million in bonds for a downtown technology hub was followed the next month by cuts to retirement healthcare benefits and layoffs. Students argue these policies come with real trade-offs, especially as AI infrastructure’s energy demand raises fears about climate damage and about who controls the future of higher education.