Backlash to OpenAI luxury retreat highlights influencers' uncertain relationship with AI

Backlash to OpenAI luxury retreat highlights influencers' uncertain relationship with AI

Content creators have come to crossroads when it comes to tech giants and trust, experts say

OpenAI hosted an all-expenses-paid gathering of content creators at an idyllic New York state resort last weekend — but the luxury getaway came at a cost for some attendees, who are now facing fierce fallout from followers for taking a promotional trip on the tech company's dime.

Some commenters took issue with influencers showing off the glamorous natural setting, reportedly in the Hudson Valley, despite concerns that OpenAI and other tech companies are having a significant impact on the environment and climate change. Others railed against the company’s work with the U.S. government, including the Department of War.

Influencer Grace McCarrick didn't think for a moment that taking part in what's known as a brand trip, to learn more about OpenAI's ChatGPT Work tools, would be controversial.

Addressing the backlash in a LinkedIn post, she said the response to her "awesome" time at the so-called summer camp had introduced her to "the shocking AI psychosis running rampant online," adding that she "genuinely had no idea that people were this anti-AI."

Experts say the uproar might not be solely about the pros and cons of artificial intelligence, but may also be a sign that content creators have come to a sort of crossroads when it comes to AI, tech giants and the unwritten bond of trust between them and their followers.

"Some of the criticism was obviously about people feeling it was in bad taste to be promoting a company like OpenAI," said Victoria Ibitoye, founder of the U.K.-based business website The Daily Influence.

"But I also think the reaction reflects the fact that the creator economy is still trying to figure out where it stands on AI more broadly."

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Ibitoye says it's clear OpenAI wanted to give content creators an opportunity to experience ChatGPT Work — billed as an AI agent that can automate workplace tasks by gathering information from applications and workflows — and then share its products with "audiences that already trust them."

But that clearly backfired for some who took part in the gathering.

Influencer Megan Lieu showcased her "2 days off the grid with OpenAI" on her LinkedIn and Instagram accounts, touting her experience as time well spent learning about ChatGPT's newest features, "all while taking in breathtaking views."

One commenter on Instagram called Lieu "a tool to be exploited by greedy white men," while another asked, "Is that the cost of your soul? One f---ing influencer trip."

McCarrick said on LinkedIn that "it was incredibly exciting to get to be in the room with the people shaping how this technology gets used," and appeared to call out the hypocrisy of some commenters.

"What gets my goat, honestly, is that every single of the commenters is on a smartphone. They're all on either Instagram or TikTok — two of the most addicting, extractive (if not straight up corrupt) platforms of our time."

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Ibitoye says the uproar has "exposed the gap between what people say about AI and how they’re actually using it."

"People say they’re uncomfortable with AI, and I think many of those concerns are completely valid. But at the same time, AI is becoming increasingly embedded in how creators work and what audiences engage with. ... I don’t think the creator economy has fully reconciled those two things yet, and that’s why debates like this keep happening."

While brand trips in general can attract backlash because they often appear to be "over the top," Ibitoye says, much of the negative reaction in this case was centred on the influencers' collaboration with OpenAI specifically.

The San Francisco-based company was the "first mover" in the field of generative AI, explains Paris Marx, a St. John's-based tech writer and host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us.

"And certainly Sam Altman, the CEO of the company, has also been very vocal, a very public figure in pushing and defending this technology."

Marx isn't surprised OpenAI lavished influencers with a weekend away in order "to say good things about their products," because the company is "very aware" that public opinion of it, and generative AI in general, isn't favourable.

"More and more people are questioning whether this industry is actually thinking about the kind of social benefit of their technologies or just about what they, at the end of the day, want to get out of it," he said.

He points to recent Angus Reid polling that showed a majority of the Canadians surveyed (68 per cent) want the federal government to "heavily regulate" AI. That same poll found 67 per cent of respondents perceive AI data centres as bad for energy and environmental sustainability.

OpenAI is also facing accusations that ChatGPT played a role in suicides, and is facing potential legal action in British Columbia related to the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge in February.

OpenAI did not respond to a CBC News request for comment about the purpose of the luxury weekend, the number of influencers who attended, other details about the trip, and the backlash to it.

David Soberman, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, says some of the backlash may be rooted in the degree of knowledge people have about artificial intelligence.

But he says the outcry might also serve as a reminder that influencer marketing is not objective and that content creators may be more like traditional advertisers than their followers want to admit.

"People like to think that when they see an influencer, that this influencer is giving their honest opinion about these products," he said. "But they're not."

Ibitoye says influencers can take a paid trip from a company like OpenAI and still be critical of its products.

She says they take risk by appearing too cozy with a company.

"Trust is probably their most valuable currency," she said. "If they stop being honest with their audience, people notice."

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Nick Logan is a senior writer with CBC based in Vancouver. He is a multi-platform reporter and producer, with a particular focus on international news. You can reach out to him at nick.logan@cbc.ca.