OpenAI recruits an army of influencers: ChatGPT must become part of the daily routine

OpenAI has launched a major campaign with social creators, not targeting tech reviewers but those who talk about fitness, family, travel and home. The goal is to transform ChatGPT from technological curiosity into a tool to be opened multiple times a day for small and large daily needs.

ChatGPT and influencers: OpenAI’s strategy

According to a US report, OpenAI is signing deals with creators who deal with parenting, fitness, health, travel, education, career, shopping and DIY. On social media, posts proliferate in which ChatGPT becomes part of the routine: a runner who prepares the training plan for the marathon, a mom dealing with her children’s math homework, and so on.

The campaign runs on two tracks. On the professional front, entrepreneur-creators show how they use ChatGPT Work to prepare presentations and manage their own startup.

On the consumer side, according to talent managers of agencies like G&B Digital Management, OpenAI is decisively targeting fitness accounts, because questions about training are already very widespread on the platform.

Sponsored posts have more than doubled

Numbers gathered by HypeAuditor give the measure of growth: sponsored posts on Instagram with hashtags like #chatgptpartner or #chatgpt_partner went from 61 in June to 122 in July, up to 141 in August.

The content focuses on everyday situations. In a back-to-school video, a mother uses ChatGPT to help the children with their homework, noting that AI is a help and does not replace parents and teachers. The pop culture page The Shade Room, instead, published a crossword puzzle sponsored by ChatGPT for its 28 million followers on Instagram.

As creator Natasha Badger notes, almost everyone now knows what ChatGPT is. The real challenge, compared to competitors like Anthropic and Higgsfield AI, is to ensure people choose ChatGPT every time they open an app.

A dedicated team, drawn from former social media executives and agencies

To manage the operation, OpenAI built a team pulled from TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. The most important hire is Charles Porch, former head of partnerships at Instagram, who joined as VP of Global Creative Partnerships. The Viral Nation agency also collaborates on large-scale campaigns.

Not everything went smoothly. When last August OpenAI organized a luxury retreat for influencers in New York, the creators involved were harshly criticized in the comments.

With sponsored posts increasing, distinguishing an advertisement from a spontaneous tip becomes more difficult. In the United States, influencers are required by federal law to disclose paid collaborations, according to FTC rules: the simplest way to recognize a promotion remains to look for hashtags like #chatgptpartner (and in Italy the situation is very similar).

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