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OpenAI is reportedly working on an X-style social network.
The project is still in the early stages, but OpenAI has built an internal prototype, according to The Verge. It's focused on ChatGPT's new image generator, which went viral and boosted user numbers and subscription signups.
It's no surprise OpenAI is looking for ways to build off this success, but details are scant. One big question is whether OpenAI will release the social network as a separate app or within ChatGPT. Perhaps it will follow past OpenAI prototypes, such as SearchGPT, which began as a separate URL before debuting within ChatGPT under the slightly revised name ChatGPT Search.
A social network could bring in new users, but even more crucially, provide OpenAI with troves of AI training data. The model would have more access to content users "like" and share, and the people with whom they interact. Meta does this with Instagram. Elon Musk's Grok chatbot similarly lives within X and trains on user tweets (unless they opt out).
The move could help OpenAI compete, and ramp up the animosity in an ongoing legal battle between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The two recently sparred about social media platforms after Musk made an unsolicited bid to purchase OpenAI in February for $97.4 billion, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Altman shot back with: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Now it appears he may be building his own version.
A social component within ChatGPT could have wider societal impacts beyond OpenAI's bottom line. It may mean more AI-generated content circulating around the web. It could also act as a personal megaphone for Altman, similar to X for Musk and Truth Social for President Trump.
Altman is an active X user, posting multiple times a day to his 3.6 million followers. His content ranges from product launch announcements to introspective musings about how everyone "hated him" for 2.5 years after the launch of ChatGPT. Some suspect he also runs another secret account with more thoughts about AI and society. The account helped build intrigue ahead of the GPT-o1 model debut, code named Project Strawberry.