I interpreted "aware" in OP as if only people truly in the know were aware of OpenAI. A lot of oblivious grandpas have probably heard of ChatGPT at this point.

Another macro point, I don't know OP's age but this vision of Silicon Valley as a tiny subset of nerds in the shadows tinkering is way out of date. The biggest public companies on the planet are all here, and a lot of people have spent the last 10+ years trying to break into tech for the monetary rewards, especially among the terminally online crypto zealots who spend all day chasing the next get quick rich scheme, which just so happens to be AI applications currently.

A lot of these people are also fundamentally clueless.

A lot of openAI followers are just people who listen to pop-tech podcasts or watch TikTok get-rich-quick schemes. It’s not limited to programmers in the same way crypto isn’t.