OpenAI recently hosted a group of social media influencers for a luxury retreat in the Hudson Valley.
The retreat was billed as ChatGPT Summer Club. It was held at Wildflower Farms in Gardiner, where cabins are priced at well over a thousand dollars per night. Wildflower Farms confirmed that it hosted the retreat but did not comment further.
The social media creators spent the weekend taking farm tours, eating farm-to-table dinners in the woods, and attending workshops with what one of them called OpenAI “power-users.”
The retreat has prompted strong backlash. Viewers left harsh comments on the videos posted by the creators, such as “selling your morals for less than 100 likes lol,” and “imagine going on a ChatGPT brand trip and thinking that’s something to be proud of.”
Viewers criticized the creators for being involved with a company that’s building controversial data centers and has a contract with the Defense Department. Within days of the trip, some of the creators who participated had disabled comments on their videos, or taken them down.
In an emailed statement, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “Creators are an important part of our community and how people get information and learn about our products today. 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."
