Photo Credit: Getty Images
Concerns about artificial intelligence’s threat to entertainment workers’ livelihoods form the backdrop to OpenAI’s celebrity outreach.
Here’s what to know
In 2025, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, recruited former Instagram executive Charles Porch to help bring celebrities to ChatGPT, according to Futurism. Porch spent 15 years at Instagram persuading celebrities to join the platform.
Public backlash over rumors of a September dinner between Altman and actress Gwyneth Paltrow led to its postponement. Porch had arranged the meeting as part of his celebrity outreach work, which New York Magazine covered in a profile calling him “OpenAI’s Hollywood Whisperer.”
For the World Cup, OpenAI’s advertising featured soccer player Lionel Messi — a collaboration Futurism highlighted as another example of the company’s celebrity outreach.
More background
OpenAI is not the only company bringing prominent entertainment figures into the AI industry. According to Futurism, filmmaker Martin Scorsese has endorsed an AI-storyboarding startup, lending his support to technology that could change how creative work gets done.
AI tools that can handle parts of creative production could reduce opportunities for paid work.
Futurism also described how uncertainty surrounding AI could encourage entertainment executives to tighten spending, adding pressure on workers seeking their next project.
Beyond Hollywood, AI expansion also affects energy and water use. The computing infrastructure behind the technology requires electricity and cooling, which can consume substantial amounts of both resources.
What’s being done?
Porch’s approach emphasizes personal connections rather than relying on advertising alone.
Futurism noted that Porch described himself to New York Magazine as “not a business-development guy or the brand guy,” but the “relationships person that’s bringing everyone along on new tech.”
The outlet further noted that an unnamed media executive quoted by New York Magazine described the financial pressures surrounding such partnerships.
“Right now in Hollywood, only the top people are working,” the executive said. “It’s why Robert Pattinson is in every project or why Nicole Kidman is literally in everything you watch on TV. The next tier down is not getting jobs.”
Where can I learn more?
As OpenAI courts celebrities, performers and filmmakers are debating how AI will affect their work.
• Marion Cotillard says AI actors “act like potatoes” but fears their potential.
• Gal Gadot faces backlash over an AI-heavy Bitcoin movie, adding to entertainment’s AI debate.
• The first AI-generated feature earned an R rating amid a push for Oscar recognition.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
