OpenAI CEO Sam Altman just became the first person to nab Indonesia’s new Golden Visa: One week after Indonesia launched its Golden Visa program, granting holders 10 years of no-hassle entry to the country, OpenAI’s chief executive received the first license, CNBC reports. Altman was granted the visa after visiting Indonesia earlier this year alongside other cities in Asia, with the expectation that he will help grow the country’s artificial intelligence system.

Could this help Altman get around US restrictions on investments and trade with China? AI is at the top of the Chinese and Indonesian cooperation list, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said following a meeting in Jakarta during the ASEAN summit, adding in his speech at the summit that their two nations intend to “expand cooperation on green energy, digital economy, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.” Last year, the Biden administration cracked down on exports of semiconductors and advanced chips to China as they are becoming a critical role in both military systems and the data-processing capacities that fuel our modern global economic system.

About the Golden Visa: The visa isn’t just granted in good faith — individual investors have to set up a company worth USD 5 mn to receive the 10-year pass, according to Reuters. A five-year visa is also up for grabs in exchange for a USD 2.5 mn investment. Corporate investors are required to invest USD 50 mn or USD 25 mn for the same number of years, respectively. Foreign investors who don’t plan to establish a company are given different provisions, and are allowed USD 350k-700k in funds used to purchase Indonesian government bonds. Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, hopes that the program will attract foreign investment.

Influencers’ #1 new client: Big Oil. Companies like Shell and BP are taking to social media in an attempt to improve their image, with DeSmog uncovering records of hundreds of influencers and content creators being paid to promote fossil fuel firms. The goal? To push… questionable solutions to the climate crisis and tackle their reputation as “the bad guys.” Hundreds of influencers have been tapped to push the Big Oil agenda since 2017, with DeSmog estimating that the campaigns have reached bns of people.

Earning the trust of the younger generation? By offsetting negative press surrounding their record bottom lines, procured from decades of contributing to climate change supported by their continuous anti-climate lobbying, these companies are looking to preemptively repair their reputation with younger generations to clean their hands of climate disruption. ExxonMobil spent USD 23.1 mn on Facebook and Instagram ads in the past five years, while Shell employed a former BBC presenter to promote the net-zero benefits of hydrogen in a five-part series to their 500k followers. The ad claims that Shell will “kickstart the energy revolution” despite the fact that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that hydrogen will represent a maximum of 2.1% of total energy consumption… in 2050.

Can greenwashing be regulated? Well, not yet. ​​There is a growing effort to police the oil industry, including their greenwashing campaigns. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK have released guidelines for brands making green claims: Their bid aims to protect the public from being misled, and have made efforts to proactively seek out misinformative ads and remove them online rather than just do it in response to complaints. They’ve created a division, the Climate Change and Environment project, specifically to monitor green claims, saying that companies can’t claim that they or their products are greener alternatives without robust evidence.

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