OpenAI decided to borrow a page from the beauty industry playbook, flying a group of influencers to a luxury resort for its first-ever brand trip. The internet responded about as warmly as you’d expect when a company building energy-hungry data centers hosts a beekeeping workshop at a $2,000-a-night farm retreat.
The event, branded ‘Summer Club,’ took place at Wildflower Farms in New York’s Hudson Valley over the weekend before August 3. Private cabins at the resort run north of $1,000 to $2,000 per night, and the itinerary included hands-on workshops with ChatGPT Work, painting sessions, and farm-to-table dining.
The optics problem
Critics were quick to point out the dissonance between a wellness-coded luxury weekend and the company’s broader business trajectory. OpenAI is pursuing a $500 billion data center project in Ohio, a venture that will require staggering amounts of energy and water. The company also holds a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense.
Pairing those realities with beekeeping and organic dining created exactly the kind of juxtaposition the internet loves to dissect. Attending influencers faced direct accusations of prioritizing luxury over ethical considerations, and at least one creator reportedly removed content related to the trip after the criticism intensified.
Anthropic and Microsoft have both made efforts to court creators. But the scale of the response to OpenAI’s event far exceeded anything those competitors faced.
OpenAI’s creator strategy
OpenAI hired Charles Porch as its first VP of global creative partnerships back in February 2026, a clear signal that the company was building out a formal influencer relations operation. Porch’s role was designed to bridge the gap between OpenAI’s increasingly consumer-facing products and the creator economy that shapes how millions of people discover new tools.
An OpenAI spokesperson framed the event as an educational opportunity, emphasizing the company’s commitment to transparency and open dialogue with creators. The workshops were ostensibly designed to demonstrate practical applications of ChatGPT Work, the company’s recently launched product aimed at professional use cases.
Among the attendees was Grace McCarrick, an influencer with more than 93,000 Instagram followers. She and other creators became lightning rods for the backlash, caught between the opportunity of a sponsored partnership and the public’s growing skepticism about AI companies’ social responsibility claims.
Why crypto and AI investors should care
Bitcoin mining and AI data centers increasingly compete for the same resources: cheap electricity, water for cooling, and political goodwill from local communities. OpenAI’s $500 billion data center ambitions in Ohio will accelerate that competition. For crypto miners already navigating tightening energy regulations and public scrutiny, the growing backlash against AI’s resource consumption adds another variable to an already complicated equation.