OpenAI influencer retreat sparks debate over AI, sponsorships and ‘selling out’
This weekend, content creators found themselves in an intense ethics debate. What was the catalyst? A ChatGPT-sponsored, summer camp-themed, Hudson Valley “brand trip” and, more broadly, the idea of what it means to “sell out”.
A group of influencers who post on a range of topics — business, interview skills, and cyberdecks among them — were invited to test and promote a work tool that OpenAI recently launched.
However the videos they posted during and after their trips have been met with criticism from their followers and from other creators; criticism that seems to have surprised the original posters.
Who is involved?
OpenAI said it would not disclose how many influencers it invited on the trip or how many turned it down. However, images from the event show a crowd of influencers sharing a long dinner table and gatherings in meeting rooms.
OpenAI seems to have invited mainly people who embrace using AI and tech, as well as career advice creators. @justyn.ai (171k TikTok followers, 154k Instagram followers), AI influencer @softgirlnocode (29.5k TikTok, 179k Instagram), career educator @careercolin (125k TikTok, 235k Instagram), “data scientist turned tech creator” @meganlovesdata (11k TikTok, 227k Instagram) and HR advice creator Grace McCarrick (146k TikTok, 93.1k Instagram) were among those in attendance.
Their posts about the camp were broadly optimistic and upbeat. However, many of the reactions in the comments of these posts were much less so.
Megan Lieu, known as @meglovesdata, posted as she checked into her cabin “for a two-day brand trip with none other than OpenAI!” She toured the cabin while suggesting that influencers who want to go on similar brand trips start posting on LinkedIn, because it’s “early days for the LinkedIn creator economy.” Her other content promotes using ChatGPT and AI prompting to write LinkedIn posts that “don’t sound like AI slop”.
“I sold my soul for a 2 night stay cabin, guys,” the top comment read. “Yeah cause AI and Data Centers are so popular right now,” another commenter wrote. “If you hate data centers you shouldn’t use TikTok then. Or any app for that matter,” Lieu responded.
Marisa Chentakul, who goes by @meshtimes, posted a selfie and other pictures from the trip on Friday on X with the caption, “adult summer camp in upstate new york with oai.” On Monday morning, the post was still up. By Monday afternoon, she had deleted it. Straight Arrow reached out to Chentakul for comment but did not immediately hear back
Replies to Chentakul before deleting the post included, ““Summer camp!” While openly destroying the environment,” and, “amazing that your summer camp is hosted by a corporation that is actively harming wildlife and destroying nature!! totally cool and not evil at all!!”
“ChatGPT flew me out for their first ever brand trip,” posted Justyn Berkovits, who goes by @justyn.ai online and specifically covers AI tools with his content. The comments on the post were broadly positive when Straight Arrow saw it on Monday afternoon. However, one commenter suggested he was “deleting all the comments that call you out for being a loser sellout for this brand trip”.
McCarrick said in her recap video of the trip, “The entire thing feels thoughtful. The people here feel thoughtful, the activities are thoughtful, the seating is thoughtful. There’s a nerdy element here — these are people who like to learn and think.”
In the replies on TikTok, however, people raised concerns that the brand trip was intended to glamorize AI and suggested that it was ironic that McCarrick left a tap running during her video.
“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,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Straight Arrow. “We’ll continue to value them, just as we do traditional media and other marketing partners.”
Why are people so angry about this?
It’s not just in the comment section. Social media platforms have been flooded with videos from other creators who say they are disappointed or angry with those who accepted the trip.
Taking perks from an AI company is unethical, influencer Charlee Remitz said in a reaction video. She said that she considered it immoral “to go on a ChatGPT brand trip when people like me spent all June doing unpaid labor trying to get data center regulations and restrictions passed.”
Content creator Meredith Lynch posted a series of videos explaining her perspective that AI-linked data centers are bad for the environment, and that the creators who took the trip were “all cashing their Sam Altman checks at the expense of communities that are dealing [with] the reality of these data centers.”
Read more: How LinkedIn became the AI-slop punching bag
Carmen Vicente, who goes by @carmscrolls online, recently described a concept called the “influencer cliff.” This is the idea that influencers sometimes have to apologize to their fans for being perceived as selling out. “Influencer trajectories leave little room for anything but selling out,” she explained in a video.
“Growth is the goal as an influencer, but it’s also what erodes the trust,” she explained in her video. Having a lot of followers means creators get offered big opportunities, but it also creates a bigger pool of people who may be disappointed in what they do next.
This is not the first time an influencer trip has drawn widespread negative commentary online. In 2023, fashion influencers were flown to tour factories in Guangzhou, China, by the fast-fashion company SHEIN. NPR reported that people were “livid,” with commenters noting the influencers had simply been shown a palatable and sanitized version of the company’s controversial working practices. At least one influencer ended her relationship with the company due to backlash after returning from the trip.
People responding to the criticism
McCarrick took to LinkedIn Monday morning to defend her choice to go on the trip, saying she “didn’t for one second consider it could be controversial.”
“I went on OpenAI’s first ever brand trip last week. It was awesome. And posting about it introduced me to the shocking AI psychosis running rampant online,” McCarrick said in her post.
Her use of the term “AI psychosis” seemed to be referring to the audience being angry about AI in general — although it is more commonly used to refer to people who have experienced new or deepened psychosis symptoms after interacting with AI chatbots.
READ MORE: Why some chatbots keep talking when they’ve stopped making sense
“I genuinely had no idea that people were this anti-AI,” McCarrick continued. She said she thought her audience would be interested in behind-the-scenes tips and information about the people shaping how technology gets used.
She pointed out that ethical debates around individual companies can be complicated. “And what gets my goat, honestly, is that every single [one] of the commenters is on a smartphone. Most are wearing clothes made in factories with poor working conditions if not child labor. Most use Amazon,” she wrote.
She also claimed that there were more male influencers than female influencers on the trip, but women were bearing the brunt of the criticism. Still, she doesn’t plan on pulling back the posts.
“I learned a lot on the trip and I will be posting cool use cases that I think can benefit anyone at any stage of their career,” she wrote.
Round out your reading
- Why Gen Z is staying home on the weekends.
- Autism research is entering a new era. Here’s what scientists are learning.
- The big reason small cities want data centers. Hint: It’s not permanent jobs.
- High school teacher arrested at city meeting after clapping for anti-data center speech.
- Off Script: Everyone’s watching Michigan. Our reporter explains why the race just changed.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
