OpenAI’s series of ad campaigns are 30 second odes to movie endings

Rooted in the idea that ChatGPT opens up possibilities in daily life – in what one could call everyday magic moments – OpenAI has launched ChatGPT’s first large scale brand campaign across the US, UK and Ireland. In partnership with Isle Of Any, a creative agency based in New York, OpenAI has launched a series of vignettes, featuring road trips, workouts and dinner dates, showing how artificial intelligence can be adopted for moments where one may need a little help preparing food or motivation for self betterment.

“The concept was inspired by how people are using ChatGPT to open up possibilities. The work drops people into everyday moments where ChatGPT is used as a ‘co-creator’ to learn, grow and create,” says Zach Stubenvoll, executive creative director at OpenAI. It’s true, people are increasingly using ChatGPT – in different ways and for different outcomes. OpenAI’s goal was to invite people to see themselves in situations where their product can be helpful to them personally.

Take Pull-Up With ChatGPT, an 80s-inspired short film that’s beautifully shot considering it’s only 30 seconds long. Set against a sobering summer night sky in an outdoor gym, The Breakfast Club is recalled as Simple Minds soundtracks one man’s task of getting in shape. Zach says this is what ChatGPT is being used for right now. “As a collection of films, each focuses on different outcomes that most people can relate to. From wanting to feel stronger to taking on cooking to planning a meaningful time with family. The power of this collection is each film can feel deeply personal, while being broadly approachable”.

With Road Trip with ChatGPT, we see a sibling duo sharing quality time during a shimmery golden hour on a road trip planned by ChatGPT. In Dish with ChatGPT, we see a blooming romance take place in a kitchen where one romantic presumably asked ChatGPT for a recipe that says ‘I like you, but want to play it cool’. But how do you tell these stories in less than a minute? “Turns out it’s pretty hard to do,” says Michael Tabtabai, global creative director at OpenAI. “In a movie you have a couple hours to spend with the characters, in these spots you only have a few seconds to get invested and start rooting for them. So each one needed a perfect micro performance, timed flawlessly with the camera movement, and music doing the right thing at the right moment for it all to work.”

The songs go from Perfume Genius to Neil Diamond, tunes with sonic textures that feel cinematic: “We wanted each one to have its own individual spirit and feeling, just like movies do,” says Toby Treyer-Evans from Isle Of Any. “Through lots of experimentation and prototyping, we looked to move around the spectrum to find songs you wouldn’t normally hear in advertising, but more in films.” The result is like switching on a film with half a minute left, witnessing the final soaring moments of a romantic comedy or a coming-of-age movie where the main character figures everything out.

With production led by Smuggler and with Miles Jay directing, the team was able to bring story and technical precision to each frame. The reason these ads look like films is due to director of photography Arseni Khachaturan, who used custom lenses and 35mm film to give the work warmth and tactility. “We weave story and product together through a concept that was inspired by that feeling that happens at the end of a film: a moment of achievement, possibility or connection right before you see the credits roll,” says Zach. “For these films, each starts with an emotional connection right before ChatGPT's answer rolls as the credits.”

Each mini story ends at the nexus of the character’s short lived on-screen journey, but OpenAI relies on our human knowledge of cinema history, clichés and general feel to allow us to fill in the beforehand – and, in the process, show the general public stories about how ChatGPT is a virtual companion here to stay.