OpenAI developing social network to rival X and Meta

OpenAI is building a social network

OpenAI is reportedly building a social media platform with ChatGPT integration to gain real-time data and challenge X and Meta, as Sam Altman eyes global AI expansion.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, OpenAI is working on its own social network similar to X. While the project is still in its early stages, there is an internal prototype focused on creating images called ChatGPT, which has a social feed. CEO Sam Altman has privately asked outsiders for feedback on the project. It’s unclear whether OpenAI plans to release the social network as a standalone app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app in the world last month, The Verge has reported.

Launching a social network in or around ChatGPT would likely intensify Altman’s already bitter rivalry with Elon Musk. In February, after Musk made an unsolicited offer to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Altman responded: “No thanks, but we’ll buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

OpenAI’s Own Unique Data

The social media push also puts OpenAI on a collision course with Meta, which plans to add a social feed to its upcoming standalone app for its AI assistant. When reports first surfaced a couple of months ago that Meta was building a competitor to ChatGPT, Altman responded to X again, saying, “Okay, maybe we’ll build a social app.”

The social app will also give OpenAI its own unique real-time data, which X and Meta already have to train their AI models. Musk’s Grok feeds its results into content from X (Musk recently went so far as to merge X and xAI into one company), while Meta trains Llama on vast amounts of user data.

OpenAI Thinks About Expanding

One idea behind OpenAI’s social prototype is for AI to help people share better content. “Grok’s integration with X is the envy of everyone,” says one person at another major AI lab. “Especially the way people create viral tweets, making them say stupid things.”

Of course, there’s a lot going on at OpenAI, and it’s unclear whether the world will ever see its early-stage project on social media. But its existence at OpenAI shows how the company is thinking about scaling up at a time when expectations for its future growth are skyrocketing.