Influencers draw backlash for attending OpenAI’s first luxury trip
Quick Answer
OpenAI's luxury influencer trip to New York has faced backlash due to rising AI concerns, with critics highlighting the irony of a lavish retreat amid socio-ecological issues tied to AI data centers.
Quick Take
Influencers reported mixed reactions, with some deleting posts after receiving negative comments about the trip's implications.
Key Points
- OpenAI hosted influencers at a luxury retreat called 'Summer Club' in upstate New York.
- Critics accused influencers of ignoring AI's environmental impact for luxury experiences.
- The trip coincides with OpenAI's $500 billion data center deal in Ohio.
- Influencers reported mixed reactions, with some deleting posts after backlash.
- OpenAI's partnerships with influencers are part of a broader trend in the AI industry.
DeepSignal Analysis
What happened
OpenAI's influencer retreat in New York has drawn criticism amid ongoing concerns about AI's socio-ecological impact. Influencers shared mixed reactions online, with some deleting posts after facing backlash regarding the trip's implications. Critics highlighted the irony of a luxury event while OpenAI is pursuing a major data center deal in Ohio.
Key evidence
- OpenAI hosted influencers at a luxury retreat in upstate New York, featuring wellness activities and classes on using OpenAI products.
- The backlash included negative comments on social media, with some influencers facing accusations of insensitivity regarding AI's environmental impact.
- OpenAI is reportedly negotiating a $500 billion deal to build a data center in Ohio, raising concerns about the socio-ecological implications of such facilities.
Why it matters
The backlash against OpenAI's influencer trip underscores the growing public scrutiny of AI technologies and their environmental consequences. As AI continues to evolve, the juxtaposition of luxury branding with pressing socio-ecological issues may influence public perception and trust in AI companies. This situation reflects broader societal concerns about the ethical implications of AI development and deployment.
📖 Reader Mode
~3 min readOpenAI’s first-ever influencer brand trip is sparking online backlash as tensions over the use of AI continue.
Over the weekend, OpenAI took what appears to be a handful of influencers to a luxury retreat in upstate New York for what was called “Summer Club.” There, the 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 took a photo of a brochure that said “painting workshop” on it.
The videos were aesthetic and lighthearted, but many of the comments were not. One influencer, for example, who posted about going on the trip on her TikTok and Instagram had comments from people insinuating she sold her soul “for a nice hotel room,” or asking if she could do a video reconciling her trip with AI data centers’ environment impact.
Another influencer who posted about the trip was asked if she was going to do a get-ready-with-me (the popular video format where influencers record their process of getting ready) 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 time there, although she retained others that don’t explicitly reference that they were part of the OpenAI brand trip.
It’s not surprising that OpenAI is enlisting influencers by offering 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 was coming from Instagram, where he was VP of global partnerships. In announcing the hire, Porch said that his job was going to be talking to creative communities “to figure out how we build the best products to serve them,” and he planned to do a “listening tour” to learn more about the relationship people have with AI tools.
It’s important to note that OpenAI is not the only AI lab that has worked with influencers. Anthropic reportedly hosted an influencer brand dinner for Claude, and back in February, Microsoft Copilot hosted an influencer brand trip to the Super Bowl, the tech newsletter Sarah and Kate reported.
None of those other AI trips seem to have struck as big of a nerve as this OpenAI brand trip. 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 realize how many people were anti-AI. “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 an influencer attending the OpenAI Summer Camp.
The commenter pointed out that many Americans have a negative view of AI and that there needs to be a conversation about how to use 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 ot brag about your $5,000-a-night suite.”
There is also more to the timing of the trip that struck people. OpenAI is set to strike a $500 billion deal to build a data center in Ohio, during a time when the socio-ecological impact of AI data centers has taken center stage. The irony was not lost on some commenters that OpenAI held a brand retreat in a luxury resort nestled in nature.
Other commenters also noted OpenAI’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense as a reason the brand trip evoked ire.
TechCrunch has reached out to influencers for comment. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Dominic-Madori Davis is a senior venture capital and startup reporter at TechCrunch. She is based in New York City.
You can contact or verify outreach from Dominic by emailing dominic.davis@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at +1 646 831-7565 on Signal.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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