Over the weekend, OpenAI invited a small group of creators to a luxury retreat in upstate New York billed as “Summer Club.” Attendees were offered farm‑to‑table dinners, wellness activities including beekeeping, and classes aimed at demonstrating OpenAI products. One creator posted about building a website, and another shared a photo of a brochure listing a “painting workshop.”
While the videos and photos were visually light and stylized, many responses in the comments were critical. Some viewers accused an influencer of having "sold her soul for a nice hotel room," while others asked for content addressing the environmental impacts of AI data centers. One creator was asked whether she would make a get‑ready‑with‑me style video about touring a data center. When TechCrunch contacted a third influencer about the retreat, the influencer had apparently deleted the video she made about the event, though other posts that don’t explicitly reference the OpenAI trip remained.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told TechCrunch that the company works with a range of creators as part of a broader marketing effort to show practical ways to use ChatGPT. He said one purpose of the trip was to teach creators how to use the newly released ChatGPT Work, which can assist with tasks like drafting documents and presentations. Pusateri characterized the event as education‑led, designed to give creators hands‑on experience with the AI tools so they could demonstrate their use to followers.
"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."
OpenAI’s move to enlist creators through a branded luxury trip follows staffing decisions earlier this year: Vanity Fair reported in February that the company hired "celebrity whisperer" Charles Porch as its first VP of global creative partnerships. Porch, formerly VP of global partnerships at Instagram, said upon his hiring that he planned a "listening tour" to learn more about creative communities’ relationships with AI tools and to figure out how to build products that serve them.
OpenAI is not alone among AI firms in working with influencers. Reports indicate that Anthropic hosted an influencer brand dinner for Claude, and that Microsoft Copilot organized an influencer trip to the Super Bowl in February, according to the tech newsletter Sarah and Kate. Still, those earlier AI marketing events do not appear to have provoked the same level of backlash as the OpenAI retreat.
Some creators appear to have been surprised by the reaction. One influencer wrote on LinkedIn that she expected people would be interested in behind‑the‑scenes tips and tricks for using OpenAI technology and did not anticipate the scale of anti‑AI sentiment. A TechCrunch interviewee who left a negative comment on an influencer’s video said many Americans hold negative views of AI and that there needs to be a conversation about responsible use. "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."
Timing also amplified criticism: OpenAI is reportedly set to strike a $500 billion deal to build a data center in Ohio, at a moment when the socio‑ecological impacts of AI data centers are under scrutiny. Commenters noted the irony of the company hosting a luxury retreat nestled in nature while pursuing large data‑center projects. Others pointed to OpenAI’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense as an additional reason the event provoked ire.
TechCrunch has reached out to influencers for comment. The piece was updated to include comments from OpenAI.
