QuitGPT
Godspeed: good fortune; success (used as a wish to a person starting on a journey, a new venture, etc.).
I just love me some strategy, and today’s post about it is particularly relevant given the times.
Awhile back, I wrote (Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?) about hitting the bad boys – misbehaving corporations with eunuch CEOs, the Administration in DC – where it hurts: with our dollars, at the cash register, at the online checkout, in their back pockets.
That is, I believe, truly what they will respond to, demonstrated by how they’re currently reacting with their zipped lips 🤐 or worse, their investments in people and entities running amuck and counter to our democracy.
And so, I wondered: How do we go about this, at scale?
Since then, I’ve become aware of several initiatives, all with the same desired outcome of corporate or governmental change, but with different strategies.
One of these is Resist and Unsubscribe launched by the academic, entrepreneur, and podcaster Scott Galloway. For the month of February, he proposed unsubscribing from the offerings of two categories of companies:
Subscription-driven consumer tech companies he believes have an outsized influence over the economy and the presidential administration, which encompasses nine companies.
Eight consumer-facing companies that are active enablers of ICE.
So, all told, 17 options that allow you to drop your little economic hammer, the thinking being that if enough people take this action that little economic hammer becomes a sledgehammer.
The site makes it easy to do this by providing handy links for unsubscribing. According to Galloway, a decision to keep this going beyond February is forthcoming.
Resist and Unsubscribe’s website says its efforts have reduced the stock market capitalization of its target companies by more than $250 million.
The other boycott I’ve studied is QuitGPT, initiated by a grassroots group of activists concerned about our democracy. It proposes a singular action: Quitting OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with the rationale that OpenAI and its executive team are President Trump’s biggest donors. In addition, ICE uses their technology for its operations. So far, this effort says that more than 1.5 million people have quit ChatGPT via its website.
I applaud both – though I believe QuitGPT’s approach is strategically sounder.
Why? I think QuitGPT sidesteps the splintering effect of having too many options and provides a more convenient and powerful approach by putting a premium on singular focus.
When I first went to Resist and Unsubscribe, I found myself equivocating over the options as if I were trying to select the right dish from a menu at a Chinese restaurant, ultimately deciding I needed to think about it and would come back.
At QuitGPT, it was just the opposite. One choice: to delete. Which I then did. I mean, what the heck, I’d rather use Claude and support Anthropic, which, while not perfect, is the best corporate citizen of the AI purveyors. (I’m providing the most recent example later in this issue.)
Resist and Unsubscribe could cause pain for multiple companies, but its ache will be distributed and diluted, while the other concentrates consumer power and creates the possibility of a grave and damaging impact to OpenAI.
QuitGPT also sends a mighty message: If our millions-member pack of consumers can hamstring and bring down a Big Dog on the savannah, the rest of you bad boys take note.
And they will, with boardroom discussions to ensue.
Another issue is fragmentation of the various boycotts overall – too many options weaken aggregate consumer power. Kind of like “divide and conquer,” but in reverse.
If I were consulting them, I’d recommend a merger of sorts: Bring the tribes together and combine the various protests for maximum impact.
At least that’s the way I see it. How about you?
Think About It
"The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." Ken Kesey
Not The Dictionary I Grew Up With
Where were the clever minds at Merriam-Webster when I was young and looking f guidance from the dictionary? Cut the Bull$#!% – a handy guide to animal excrement's vital spot in the English language.
Values Aren't Free
As I said earlier, Anthropic's not perfect; its AI agent Claude has made critical mistakes in legal filings and the company was sued by authors for illegally pirating their work. It's the only AI company with a constitution, and it's the best of the bunch for transparency and honesty, particularly in living up to its brand value at the core of its existence: safety.
And as I've always said, values aren't worth much if they don't cost you something.
The most recent example of this was last week's decision by Anthropic to not let Claude be used by the Department of War for AI-powered autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of our citizens.
In so doing, Anthropic lost a $200 million contract. That's a lot of green, but pales to what happened next: The administration that rails against "cancel culture" effectively cancelled Anthropic as a government vendor. You can read Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s statement and rationale for the company's position here.
I think it's a long-term brand investment by the company in what's becoming an increasingly short-term market battle.
We shall see if it pays off – or not. But one thing's for sure: Amodei and Anthropic's employees have a clear conscience over the work they are doing.
Update: Claude was the Number 1 Free Download at the Apple store this past weekend.
Can You Solve This Riddle?
I am a rock group with four members, all of whom are dead, and one of whom was assassinated. What am I?
Answer at the end of this issue.
Mike Luckovich Is A Genius
I'll leave you today with one example of his genius.
I'll see you next week – we can only wonder how the world will have been changed over the next seven days. 🤯
Godspeed, friends.
Russ
Riddle Answer
Mount Rushmore – hat's off to the folks at Morning Brew for this one.