Since co-founding Patreon alongside Jack Conte more than 13 years ago, Sam Yam has played a key leadership role for the creator funding platform. But Yam’s time at Patreon has come to an end, and as he departs, he’s taking two of his colleagues with him.
Yam has accepted an offer to lead the new Creator Product division at OpenAI. In that role, he will look to build an ecosystem that makes offerings like ChatGPT work harder for creators and their partners.
That work won’t be easy. Yam is arriving at OpenAI during a challenging period at Sam Altman‘s company. A recent report from Comscore showed that, in terms of overall U.S. usage, ChatGPT is ceding ground to its competitors. And in Hollywood, OpenAI’s plan to become a trusted studio partner has been waylaid by intense backlash from artists and the shuttering of video generation model Sora.
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If Hollywood won’t be OpenAI’s friend, maybe the creator community can fill that void. For the makers of AI chatbots, creator partnerships can add value in the form of answer engine optimization. That’s one reason why Google Gemini entered into a multi-year agreement with MrBeast.
OpenAI started making creator economy moves before Yam came on board. The acquisition of the “Silicon Valley SportsCenter” known as TBPN equipped OpenAI with a mouthpiece it can use to broadcast its messages throughout the tech industry.
Even as OpenAI pursues those partnerships, it is meeting resistance from creators who see generative AI as a threat to their livelihood. That’s why the Yam hire is so important. Throughout his decade-plus tenure as the platform’s CTO, Yam led the development of creator economy tools that have spurred significant payouts from Patreon’s early days to the present.
Two execs who worked with Yam at Patreon are now joining him at OpenAI. Drew Rowny, a Google vet who was Patreon’s SVP of Product, is making the move alongside Yam. So too is Shannon Ma, a former Facebooker who served as Patreon’s engineering head.
That trio just arrived at OpenAI, so we don’t know what they’re up to yet — but according to Yam, we won’t have to wait long to find out. In a tweet, Yam said that upcoming OpenAI creator products will be teased at the company’s annual DevDay. So if you want to know what the maker of ChatGPT is up to, circle September 29 on your calendar.
