Stop the Encroachment of Generative AI in our Education Systems at UNSW
The issue
On 9th of September 2026, the University of New South Wales announced a multi year partnership with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to all faculty, staff, and students (more than 80,000 students and staff) as part of a larger “AI-native graduate” initiative. “Our ambition is to produce AI-capable graduates,” said the UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison. This is "one of the largest AI education deployments in the Asia-Pacific region" between a university system and an artificial intelligence company.
Despite the name, ChatGPT Edu is not educational technology. It is a general-purpose chatbot that is not designed, trained, or optimized for education. Beyond its privacy and security features, ChatGPT Edu is identical to the free online version of ChatGPT. ChatGPT Edu does not use reliable peer-reviewed sources to answer students' questions and is indifferent to whether its answers are correct. Experts argue that ChatGPT Edu is harmful to academic working conditions, diminishes the quality of teaching and learning, introduces new forms of discrimination, and is dangerous to students' mental health.
Chancellor Warwick Negus AM, Vice-Chancellor Atilla Brungs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison and the larger administration of UNSW approved the contract with OpenAI during a significant financial burden of underpayment — more than $32 million in rectification payments, including interest and superannuation, to over 33,000 underpaid staff.
In June 2026, UNSW Sydney claimed the number one spot in Australia for the first time in the 2027 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings – one of the most comprehensive and respected international league tables in tertiary education. Despite claiming this achievement UNSW has elected to undercut it's own credibility by signing a deal with the world's most renowned thievery machine without any examination or consideration of ChatGPT's significant environmental impacts, detrimental psychological impacts on student mental health, and devastating impact on critical thinking skills and ability.
No further details have been publicly announced the amount of money invested, what sort of safeguards will be instituted. No public consultation process with the teaching or student body was organised or attempted by the university.
We, the undersigned, petition Chancellor Warwick Negus AM, Vice-Chancellor Atilla Brungs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison and the larger administration of UNSW to cancel the University's contract with OpenAI and to use the savings to protect jobs at UNSW campuses facing underpayment, overwork, layoffs and so on. We believe that investing in the UNSW’s human workforce is the best way to ensure the quality of research, teaching, and learning in NSW public education. Together with the UNSW Faculty, we demand shared governance around AI decision-making and a return to the UNSW’s mission, which includes providing Australian and International students an education that "advances Progress for All globally, through transformative education, innovative research and meaningful engagement with people, communities and partners in Australia and around the world."
That UNSW must reject Silicon Valley’s AI hype and invest in the people who make this university a destination for our 64,053 students and 320,926 Alumni (as of 2019). The challenges that we face in higher education cannot be resolved with AI. We must, instead, empower faculty, staff, and students to define a sustainable, human-centered future for the CSU system.
The Australian Greens party is pushing for a halt at the hasty and ill-considered roll out of Artificial Intelligence at Australian universities. I stand with that opinion and I hope many more students, staff and faculty would join me in that position.
With the predictable backlash and protests at University of Sydney at a similar deal with OpenAI. In solidarity, I hope we can sustain that pressure and have our concerns addressed. This naked cash grab by AI companies must be stopped in its tracks to restore the sanctity of our education systems. We must not let our faith in education and the value it imparts in building critical thinking, independent as well as collaborative creative work that inspires students to drive innovation rather than regurgitate an indexed, statistically approximated and averaged answer spat out by the most environmentally destructive algorithm.
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The issue
On 9th of September 2026, the University of New South Wales announced a multi year partnership with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to all faculty, staff, and students (more than 80,000 students and staff) as part of a larger “AI-native graduate” initiative. “Our ambition is to produce AI-capable graduates,” said the UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison. This is "one of the largest AI education deployments in the Asia-Pacific region" between a university system and an artificial intelligence company.
Despite the name, ChatGPT Edu is not educational technology. It is a general-purpose chatbot that is not designed, trained, or optimized for education. Beyond its privacy and security features, ChatGPT Edu is identical to the free online version of ChatGPT. ChatGPT Edu does not use reliable peer-reviewed sources to answer students' questions and is indifferent to whether its answers are correct. Experts argue that ChatGPT Edu is harmful to academic working conditions, diminishes the quality of teaching and learning, introduces new forms of discrimination, and is dangerous to students' mental health.
Chancellor Warwick Negus AM, Vice-Chancellor Atilla Brungs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison and the larger administration of UNSW approved the contract with OpenAI during a significant financial burden of underpayment — more than $32 million in rectification payments, including interest and superannuation, to over 33,000 underpaid staff.
In June 2026, UNSW Sydney claimed the number one spot in Australia for the first time in the 2027 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings – one of the most comprehensive and respected international league tables in tertiary education. Despite claiming this achievement UNSW has elected to undercut it's own credibility by signing a deal with the world's most renowned thievery machine without any examination or consideration of ChatGPT's significant environmental impacts, detrimental psychological impacts on student mental health, and devastating impact on critical thinking skills and ability.
No further details have been publicly announced the amount of money invested, what sort of safeguards will be instituted. No public consultation process with the teaching or student body was organised or attempted by the university.
We, the undersigned, petition Chancellor Warwick Negus AM, Vice-Chancellor Atilla Brungs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison and the larger administration of UNSW to cancel the University's contract with OpenAI and to use the savings to protect jobs at UNSW campuses facing underpayment, overwork, layoffs and so on. We believe that investing in the UNSW’s human workforce is the best way to ensure the quality of research, teaching, and learning in NSW public education. Together with the UNSW Faculty, we demand shared governance around AI decision-making and a return to the UNSW’s mission, which includes providing Australian and International students an education that "advances Progress for All globally, through transformative education, innovative research and meaningful engagement with people, communities and partners in Australia and around the world."
That UNSW must reject Silicon Valley’s AI hype and invest in the people who make this university a destination for our 64,053 students and 320,926 Alumni (as of 2019). The challenges that we face in higher education cannot be resolved with AI. We must, instead, empower faculty, staff, and students to define a sustainable, human-centered future for the CSU system.
The Australian Greens party is pushing for a halt at the hasty and ill-considered roll out of Artificial Intelligence at Australian universities. I stand with that opinion and I hope many more students, staff and faculty would join me in that position.
With the predictable backlash and protests at University of Sydney at a similar deal with OpenAI. In solidarity, I hope we can sustain that pressure and have our concerns addressed. This naked cash grab by AI companies must be stopped in its tracks to restore the sanctity of our education systems. We must not let our faith in education and the value it imparts in building critical thinking, independent as well as collaborative creative work that inspires students to drive innovation rather than regurgitate an indexed, statistically approximated and averaged answer spat out by the most environmentally destructive algorithm.
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Petition created on 16 September 2026