If there was ever a moment that best encapsulated Chapel Hill, it unfolded Wednesday morning: A protest of a few hundred demonstrators sandwiched between the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity house and a gathering of world leaders.
That was the scene as the G20 Innovation Ministerial met inside the Carolina Inn, bringing commerce officials from the Group of 20 nations and tech leaders, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, to the historic hotel that neighbors UNC-CH. The U.S. Department of Commerce, led by Secretary Howard Lutnick, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy cohosted the event.
The session sought to “identify policy principles that promote innovation in AI and other emerging technologies, accelerate scientific and technological advancement, promote economic growth and investment in manufacturing and supply chains, and strengthen public support for these technologies,” per a news release.
Several student groups organized a protest in response and criticized what they felt was a lack of communication about the event from the university. In an email last Friday, campus safety officials emphasized the university was “not affiliated with or sponsoring this event.” But Isabelle Lynn, a student organizer with Sunrise UNC, said she wanted a clearer answer about the university’s role in planning it given the Carolina Inn’s close proximity to campus.
She cited the university’s refusal to sign the U.S. Department of Education’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education last fall as a welcome example of campus officials taking a clear stance on a controversial issue. But she was critical of administrators’ support of artificial intelligence, which was a key topic at the G20 event; Chancellor Lee Roberts has cited the technology as one of his key priorities.
“My issue is Chancellor Lee Roberts and the administration choosing what they want to speak out about,” she said.
Protesters gathered at the Old Well around 10 a.m. before marching down Cameron Avenue, chanting phrases like “Hey hey, ho ho, Sam Altman has got to go!” and “Stop data centers now!” They also denounced the university’s use of Flock Safety license plate readers on campus. Once they arrived at the inn, most demonstrators remained on the sidewalk, though dozens also stood in the streets surrounding the building.
Several police from UNC-CH, the town of Chapel Hill, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office stood on the lawn of the inn and directed protesters in the street to move to the sidewalk. At several points during the roughly two-hour affair, a loudspeaker played a message that said anyone who refused to move out of the street was at risk of being arrested.
“Whose city? Our city. Whose state? Our state,” the protesters chanted. “Whose street? Our street. Whose school? Our school.”
Over about an hour, officials used town-branded dump trucks, police vehicles, and metal barriers to corral protesters onto the sidewalk. Ultimately, no one was arrested.
The Assembly did not attend Wednesday’s G20 session, but reports show the event included “fireside chats” where Lutnick spoke with Altman, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Much of the conversations centered around how, or if, AI should be regulated across the globe, though some also included trade and tariffs. Per CNBC, Karp told reporters that AI regulation “hurts the countries that are trying to protect themselves,” while Huang said leaders should “regulate practical and actual harm, and not regulate theoretical and hypothetical harm.”
