OpenAI Pays Fitness Influencers to Explain Between Sets That ChatGPT Is Good for the World
The campaign has reached 28 million people and at least one hamstring.
SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI is paying a growing roster of social-media creators to present its products as a force for good, according to people familiar with the program, including a cohort of fitness influencers who have been asked to explain the societal benefits of artificial intelligence while resting between sets.
"We see enormous overlap between people who want to get stronger and people who want to ask a chatbot how to get stronger," said a member of the company's creator partnerships team. "The trick is to catch them at the moment of maximum vulnerability, which is the third set of Bulgarian split squats."
A sponsored post reviewed by this publication shows a creator with 2.1 million followers completing a deadlift, placing the bar on the floor, and saying, while breathing heavily, "ChatGPT helped me plan this program, and it is also, I think, going to help cure a lot of diseases," before a card appears reading "#ad."
According to a briefing document seen by a person familiar with it, creators are encouraged to describe the technology as "helpful, human and good for the world," and discouraged from using the words "compute," "lawsuit" and "Astra."
Creators said the work was straightforward. "The rate is good, and they give you a lot of freedom," said Juniper Castellanos-Moore, a Pilates instructor in Austin with 640,000 followers. "The only rule is you have to smile at the phone when you ask it something. They were very specific. They said the phone should look like it is helping, and you should look like you are being helped."
Analysts said the campaign reflects a broader shift in how AI labs think about public perception. "Two years ago you proved your model was good by publishing a benchmark," said Rafael Nygaard-Obi, a marketing professor. "Now you prove it by having a woman with excellent posture say so while holding a kettlebell."
At press time, a creator filming a sponsored post about ChatGPT's safety features had asked it for a new deadlift program, received one, and pulled a muscle, which he described in the caption as "a learning moment powered by AI."