OpenAI Sent Creators to a Lux Outdoor Retreat. Here’s Why Their Audiences Hated It

With great bag comes great responsibility

These days, it’s impossible to scroll through social media without seeing your favorite creator or account celebrating their latest brand deal. It’s the milestone everyone post seems to be chasing. And it’s no surprise OpenAI saw the same opportunity as other brands: Collect creators, send them somewhere luxurious and let them share their insights and happiness.

In case you missed it, the AI company sent a group of creators to a luxury retreat in upstate New York over the weekend. The backlash, which honestly felt inevitable, was immediate. I’m not sure what was more surprising—that the creators agreed to it (seemingly unpaid, too) or that they seemed were when their audiences turned on them.

As audiences grow increasingly disillusioned by digital fatigue, social media and the world at large, we are in the middle of an influencer and creator evolution. Lifestyle and luxury influencers are slipping And if you’ve read the recent piece in Vulture, you already know where things are heading instead: toward creators who position themselves as intellectual, thought leader-y, or whatever this week’s version of “the thinking person’s creator” happens to be.

For some, the term “influencer” has become synonymous with tone-deaf and annoying behavior that alienates and bothers others. We will likely see more places shun influencers, similar to what is happening in Nantucket. Not all influencers behave this way. But there is definitely a subset of entitled main characters. Their antics compel some in the space to strive to be seen as creators instead. These folks distance themselves from the negative connotations to emerge as crafters of thought, taste and culture.

History repeats

So why are these creators falling into the same traps influencers have in the past? Let’s look at controversial brand trips and how they create divisive, passionate responses from audiences.

Tarte

The beauty brand flew creators to Bora Bora in 2024, and the customer backlash was immediate. It came from customers who felt ignored while influencers with the biggest reach got a free trip whether they used the products or not. It became a clear signal that Tarte cared more about reach than its customer base as a marketing channel.

Shein

The fast-fashion brand’s factory trips revealed that brand trips can effectively become propaganda factories (pun intended), with creators standing in as proof that a company doing genuinely unethical things was fine and actually worth the customer’s money. That’s when audiences started asking who really benefits from these trips.

OpenAI’s trip shows that influencers and creators are always selling, except the creators who went aren’t selling eyeshadow or a beach body. Many of them built their whole audience on being smart and credible—on being someone worth listening to—which is exactly why the vitriol came in hot.

The cost of “unfit” creator partnerships

The further a creator’s value shifts from aesthetics to intellectual authority, the more a brand trip costs them, because they’re no longer lending their face. They’re lending their credibility, and that loss of credibility dismantles their entire brand. You can’t build your brand on being the person who sees the signal and explains the nuance, only to become the mechanism for brandwashing.

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Creators and wannabe creators—even though some people are happy you “got the bag,” you are defined by whom you choose as a partner and align with. It’s about more than accepting money in exchange for deliverables and videos. If only it were that simple. There is a responsibility that comes with every eyeball you cater to, whether you accept that responsibility or not.

The brands paying these creators aren’t just paying for an audience; they’re paying for the creator’s integrity, endorsement and proof of a good experience. It’s no surprise that partnering with a highly controversial brand doesn’t just make one look like a sellout. It makes you look like a propaganda piece—a living, breathing marketing asset assuring everyone that this brand is warm, fuzzy and safe. When you create content for these brands, you grant them access and a warm handshake to your audience.

If people follow you as an intellectual creator, your POV acts as a filter for how they see the world. By doing these types of brand trips, you stop acting like a curator and become just another ad—just another account to unfollow because it stopped doing its job as an intellectual filter.

Read the room

Brands are going to brand. They’re going to see people with reach and clout and invite them on extravagant trips with opportunities to be seen and show off the deal. The creators who demand our respect for talking into a camera need to sit with the responsibility that comes with it. Your audience will hold you accountable when you take opportunities that go against what they thought you believed in.

Creators must look beyond the perks and opportunities of content creation. Whom you partner with shows what matters to you and whether money, opportunity, and visibility outweigh what your audience actually cares about. The creators who have spent the longest time building intellectual credibility have the most to lose when they get so excited for a brand deal that they forget to read the room.

Related: The Clio Awards Announce New Program: Clio Creators