OpenAI is working on its own X-like social network, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
While the project is still in early stages, we’re told there’s an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT’s image generation that has a social feed. CEO Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project, our sources say. It’s unclear if OpenAI’s plan is to release the social network as a separate app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app globally last month.
Launching a social network in or around ChatGPT would likely increase Altman’s already-bitter rivalry with Elon Musk.
In February, after Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Altman responded: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Entering the social media market also puts OpenAI on more of a collision course with Meta, which we’re told is planning to add a social feed to its coming standalone app for its AI assistant. When reports of Meta building a rival to the ChatGPT app first surfaced a couple of months ago, Altman shot back on X again by saying, “ok fine maybe we’ll do a social app.”
A social app would also give OpenAI its own unique, real-time data that X and Meta already have to help train their AI models. Musk’s Grok surfaces content from X in its results (Musk recently went so far as to merge X and xAI into the same company), while Meta trains Llama on its vast trove of user data.
One idea behind the OpenAI social prototype, we’ve heard, is to have AI help people share better content.
“The Grok integration with X has made everyone jealous,” says someone working at another big AI lab.
“Especially how people create viral tweets by getting it to say something stupid.”
OpenAI has a lot going on, of course, and it’s unclear if its early-stage social media project will ever see the light of day. But its existence inside OpenAI shows how the company is thinking about expansion at a time when expectations for its future growth are sky high.
