OpenAI’s first-ever influencer brand trip is sparking online backlash as tensions over the use of AI continue.
Over the weekend, OpenAI took a handful of influencers to a luxury retreat in upstate New York for an event called “Summer Club.” There, creators were treated to farm-to-table dinners, wellness activities like beekeeping, and classes on how to better use OpenAI products. One creator posted about making a website, while another shared a photo of a brochure listing a “painting workshop.”
The videos were aesthetic and lighthearted, but many of the comments were not. One influencer who posted about the trip on her TikTok and Instagram received comments from people insinuating she had sold her soul “for a nice hotel room,” while others asked if she could do a video reconciling her attendance with AI data centers’ environmental impact.
Another influencer who posted about the trip was asked if she was going to do a get-ready-with-me about touring a data center. When TechCrunch reached out to a third influencer about her time on the trip, she appeared to have deleted the video she made about her experience, though she retained others that don’t explicitly reference the OpenAI brand trip.
OpenAI’s Response
When reached for comment, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company works with a range of creators as part of a broader marketing effort to help people understand more practical ways to use ChatGPT. One purpose of the trip was to teach creators how to use the newly released ChatGPT Work, which helps users with tasks like drafting documents and presentations. Pusateri said the event was education-led and sought to give creators hands-on experience with OpenAI’s tools so they could show their followers how to use them.
“Creators are an important part of our community and how people get information and learn about our products today,” Pusateri said. “We welcome healthy debate as AI becomes more prevalent, and we value creators who choose to engage with us, attend our events, ask tough questions, and learn alongside everyone else. We’ll continue to value them, just as we do traditional media and other marketing partners.”
A Calculated Marketing Push
It’s not surprising that OpenAI is enlisting influencers through luxury brand trips. In February, Vanity Fair reported that the company hired “celebrity whisperer” Charles Porch as its first VP of global creative partnerships. Porch came from Instagram, where he served as VP of global partnerships. In announcing the hire, Porch said his job would involve talking to creative communities “to figure out how we build the best products to serve them,” and he planned a “listening tour” to better understand how people relate to AI tools.
OpenAI is not the only AI lab to have worked with influencers. Anthropic reportedly hosted an influencer brand dinner for Claude, and in February, Microsoft Copilot hosted an influencer brand trip to the Super Bowl, as reported by the tech newsletter Sarah and Kate.
Why This Trip Hit a Nerve
None of those other AI trips appear to have struck as big a nerve as OpenAI’s Summer Club. One influencer took to LinkedIn to write that she thought people “would be interested in the behind-the-scenes tips and tricks” of using OpenAI technology, but didn’t anticipate the level of opposition. “I didn’t for one second consider it would be controversial,” she wrote.
TechCrunch spoke to a person who left a negative comment on a video posted by one of the attending influencers. The commenter pointed out that many Americans hold a negative view of AI and that a broader conversation is needed about using the technology more responsibly. “These posh influencers’ events are, again, giving people ammunition to have negative opinions,” she told TechCrunch. “The world is on fire. It’s not a great time to brag about your $5,000-a-night suite.”
The timing of the trip added another layer of tension. OpenAI is set to strike a $500 billion deal to build a data center in Ohio, at a moment when the socio-ecological impact of AI infrastructure has become a prominent public concern. The irony was not lost on commenters that OpenAI chose to hold a brand retreat at a luxury resort nestled in nature. Others also cited OpenAI’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense as a further reason the trip provoked criticism. TechCrunch has reached out to the attending influencers for comment.
