OpenAI’s next big experiment might not be a new chatbot or video generator — it might be… a social media platform. Yep, according to The Verge, Sam Altman & Co. are quietly testing a prototype that looks a lot like a mix of Instagram and DALL·E, where AI-generated content is the main attraction, not a bonus feature.
An AI-first platform, not just AI slapped on top
Most social apps today are adding AI to their platforms — think Meta’s AI stickers or Musk’s Grok on X. But OpenAI? They’re flipping that script. This prototype starts with AI-generated content — especially images made by GPT-4o — and then layers in the social stuff.
Instead of uploading selfies or rants, users would interact around what AI creates, not what people post. Think of it as a kind of AI-powered art feed, where the central vibe is creation, not curation.
The project’s still in early testing. Altman is reportedly showing it off to folks outside OpenAI, gathering feedback, but there’s no official word on whether it’ll ever go public. It might live inside ChatGPT, or spin off into its own thing entirely.
Musk vs Altman: the rivalry that keeps on giving
This new direction throws fresh fuel on the Altman–Musk fire. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and later bailed, hasn’t exactly been subtle about his dislike for the company’s current trajectory. He even tried to buy OpenAI earlier this year for a wild $97.4 billion.
Altman’s response? A cheeky tweet saying, “no thanks,” and a joke about OpenAI buying Twitter instead — for $9.74 billion.
Now with Musk baking Grok into X and Meta shoving AI into every corner of its apps, OpenAI’s potential social platform puts all three giants on a direct collision course — this time not just over AI smarts, but over how people connect and share online.
It’s also a data play — and a smart one
Let’s be real: this isn’t just about vibes. OpenAI needs better, fresher, more diverse data to train its models. Musk has X. Meta has Facebook, Insta, and WhatsApp. OpenAI mostly has whatever users type into ChatGPT.
A social network — even a simple one — could help OpenAI tap into real-time human behaviour, preferences, and prompts. That’s gold for model training. And it might just make OpenAI more than “the ChatGPT company.”
Watch this space — it could get weird, competitive, and very, very interesting.
