Influencers who attended OpenAI’s first-ever brand trip over the weekend are facing backlash from followers who called the outing completely “tone deaf,” saying the influencers were allowing themselves to be used as “pawn[s]” for a company that is harming both the environment and society at large.
AI companies — like OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT — have been partnering with influencers and celebrities to curry more favorable public perception in light of well-chronicled worries about the technology: Half of American adults said in a June 2025 study that the increased use of AI in daily life is more concerning than exciting.
In February, OpenAI poached Instagram’s Charles Porch, whom Vanity Fair called a “celebrity whisperer,” to serve as the company’s vice president of global creative partnerships in an attempt to win support from Hollywood and beyond.
Like Anthropic and Microsoft Copilot before them, OpenAI arranged a brand trip to Wildflower Farms in Gardiner, New York, for select influencers: It’s a marketing tactic to reach audiences — the company covers the cost of the trip, and the influencers post about it on their social media accounts.
Grace McCarrick, one of the influencers, posted a video on Instagram where, in the background, the bathtub in her cabin was filling up with water — something commenters found ironic, considering that one of the main concerns about AI is the high power consumption and cooldown requirements of its data centers, which drain or negatively impact water supplies in towns across the country.
