I think it depends on what you tell them when you fill out the application. I was honest and didn't tell them I was a YouTube influencer, venture capitalist, underground artist, and/or credentialed researcher. I just wanted to play with it and see how it worked.

Most of the interesting things I've done in my life and career began with just wanting to play with something and see how it worked, but it was probably unrealistic to expect OpenAI to buy into that, given the large number of more worthy-sounding candidates in line ahead of me. Maybe I'll reapply with a different email address and make up a more mediagenic motivation.