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Comment by iLoveOncall

4 days ago

ChatGPT was released in 2022, so OP's point stands perfectly well.

They're rumored to be working on a social network to rival X with the focus being on image generations.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/openai-is-reportedly-devel...

The play now seems to be less AGI, more "too big to fail" / use all the capital to morph into a FAANG bigtech.

My bet is that they'll develop a suite of office tools that leverage their model, chat/communication tools, a browser, and perhaps a device.

They're going to try to turn into Google (with maybe a bit of Apple and Meta) before Google turns into them.

Near-term, I don't see late stage investors as recouping their investment. But in time, this may work out well for them. There's a tremendous amount of inefficiency and lack of competition amongst the big tech players. They've been so large that nobody else could effectively challenge them. Now there's a "startup" with enough capital to start eating into big tech's more profitable business lines.

  • I don't know how anyone could look at any of this and say ponderously: it's basically the same as Nov 2022 ChatGPT. Thus strategically they're pivoting to social to become too big to fail.

    • I mean, it's not fucking AGI/ASI. No amount of LLM flip floppery is going to get us terminators.

      If this starts looking differently and the pace picks up, I won't be giving analysis on OpenAI anymore. I'll start packing for the hills.

      But to OpenAI's credit, I also don't see how minting another FAANG isn't an incredible achievement. Like - wow - this tech giant was willed into existence. Can't we marvel at that a little bit without worrying about LLMs doing our taxes?

      2 replies →

  • I appreciate the info and I have a question:

    Why would anyone use a social network run by Sam Altman? No offense but his reputation is chaotic neutral to say the least.

    Social networks require a ton of momentum to get going.

    BlueSky already ate all the momentum that X lost.

    • Social networks have to be the most chaotic neutral thing ever made. It's like, "hey everyone! Come share what ever you want on my servers!"

    • Most people don't care about techies or tech drama. They just use the platforms their friends do.

      ChatGPT images are the biggest thing on social media right now. My wife is turning photos of our dogs into people. There's a new GPT4o meme trending on TikTok every day. Using GPT4o as the basis of a social media network could be just the kickstart a new social media platform needs.

  • Not surprising. Add comments to sora.com and you've got a social network.

    • Seriously. The users on sora.com are already trying to. They're sending messages to each other with the embedded image text and upvoting it.

      GPT 4o and Sora are incredibly viral and organic and it's taking over TikTok, Instagram, and all other social media.

      If you're not watching casual social media you might miss it, but it's nothing short of a phenomenon.

      ChatGPT is now the most downloaded app this month. Images are the reason for that.

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  • chatGPT should be built into my iMessage threads with friends. @chatGPT "Is there an evening train on Thursdays from Brussels to Berlin?" Something a friend and I were discussing but we had to exit out of iMessage and use GPT then back to iMessage.

    For UX The GPT info in the thread would be collapsed by default and both users have the discretion to click to expand the info.