OpenAI is reportedly developing its own social media platform, potentially marking its boldest consumer-focused move yet. According to reputable sources, the company has built an internal prototype of a social feed centered around ChatGPT’s image generation tool. While the project remains in early development, it could put OpenAI in direct competition with Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms.
The internal prototype appears to merge generative AI with real-time social feeds, suggesting a vision that blends user creativity with interactive discovery. It’s still unclear whether OpenAI will launch the social network as a standalone app or integrate it within the existing ChatGPT platform, which recently crossed 400 million weekly active users. The app already includes image generation capabilities, and the addition of a social feed could amplify user engagement and introduce a new monetization channel through ads.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been quietly reaching out to individuals outside the company for feedback on the idea, indicating serious internal interest despite no official confirmation or timeline for launch. If OpenAI proceeds, the move could reignite tensions with Elon Musk, who co-founded the company in 2015 before parting ways in 2018. The rivalry between Altman and Musk has escalated recently, especially after Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to acquire OpenAI was publicly rejected with Altman’s pointed counter: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Beyond the corporate drama, OpenAI’s push into social media highlights a deeper strategic motive: access to real-time, high-context user data. Companies like Meta and X already use massive social datasets to improve AI performance. By establishing its own social ecosystem, OpenAI could gain direct streams of multimodal data—text, images, and interactions—to further train and refine its next-generation models.
This initiative follows recent signs that OpenAI is broadening its hardware and software footprint, from exploring a screenless ChatGPT smartphone with former Apple design chief Jony Ive to developing SearchGPT, a dedicated AI-powered search engine.
(via The Verge)
