Patreon co-founder Sam Yam joined OpenAI last month to lead its creator initiative — and he’s already got his first project set up. Yam is partnering with podcast host Chloe Shih, who launched her podcast “Office Drama” earlier this year, on a new series to explore how technology can help those navigating parenthood and the first years of a child’s education. The series, the specifics of which the company has not disclosed, hopes to showcase how AI’s development can help families, in line with Yam’s intention upon hiring to help creators “shape culture” and “unite diverse communities together.” “Being a parent is becoming increasingly expensive and even out of reach for many who are already trying to balance their professional and personal lives,” said Shih, who’s expecting a child, in a statement.
Yam, who co-founded Patreon as a creator-focused monetization platform in 2013 and served as its president, announced on X last month that he would join OpenAI as its head of creator product — and that Patreon’s heads of product and engineering would join him. The exits followed Patreon’s layoffs in July, when it pink-slipped roughly 20% of its staff. Yam wrote in a Sept. 22 X thread that he loved creators’ “relentless dedication to the craft” and was excited to help them bring “many more of their ideas to life.” “I believe human creativity is paramount,” he wrote.
Some of those efforts have landed participating creators in hot water, however, including a maligned creators’ trip OpenAI organized in August to Wildflower Farms, a luxury estate in New York’s Hudson Valley.
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