- OpenAI has finally launched its marketplace for AI apps.
- The GPT Store launch gives OpenAI something that emulates Apple's App Store.
OpenAI has kicked off the new year with a launch that's got it looking a whole lot like one of its Silicon Valley neighbors: Apple.
On Wednesday, the ChatGPT developer finally launched its hotly anticipated GPT Store. The store, first announced two months ago, effectively works as a marketplace for AI apps built with OpenAI's technology.
You can think of it as an AI equivalent to Apple's App Store.
In a blogpost, OpenAI said developers had already created three million "custom versions of ChatGPT," with many starting to share them for the wider public to use. There are GPT-based apps that help you with everything from finding trails for your next hike to learning code.
It isn't clear if OpenAI plans to take a commission from the GPT Store in the same way Apple takes a 30% cut from developers placing apps on its App Store. The store is only accessible to premium ChatGPT users, who pay a monthly $20 fee to access a faster version of the app, as well as teams and enterprises paying a fee.
Apple's charge on developers has been a source of controversy, having sparked lawsuits from the likes of Epic Games. A CNBC analysis last year estimated that Apple could have grossed between $70 billion and $85 billion from App Store commissions. (The lower estimate factors in smaller app makers who pay 15% through a "Small Business Program" launched in 2021).
OpenAI does, however, say that it wants GPT builders to benefit from a revenue program, which it plans to launch by the end of March.
"As a first step, US builders will be paid based on user engagement with their GPTs. We'll provide details on the criteria for payments as we get closer," the company said.
The revenue program feels similar in theory to what Apple does for its developers. In 2022, the Apple App Store ecosystem "facilitated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales," per research from Analysis Group.
It's not the only thing that's got OpenAI looking more and more like Apple in recent months.
The announcement of the GPT Store itself was made in November during OpenAI's first "Dev Day" — an event that came with a level of hype typically reserved for the keynotes from Cupertino.
Ann Bordetsky, a partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, described OpenAI's developer conference as being more exciting than Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference.
Angel investor Nikunj Kothari, meanwhile, likened the excitement among developers as something not seen "since the original iPhone days."
OpenAI's leader has also seemingly become more and more Steve Jobs-like after experiencing a boardroom saga reminiscent of a difficult period in the Apple founder's early days.
In much the same way Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985, OpenAI's Altman was also pushed out of his company in November, just weeks after its Dev Day.
In Jobs' case, an abrasive attitude, as well as tensions with Apple's then CEO John Sculley and the board over sales of the Macintosh and Lisa computers, led to his departure. In Altman's case, he was accused of being "not consistently candid in his communications with the board."
But much like Jobs, Altman's importance was deemed too great to his company.
The likes of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who has backed Altman and OpenAI with a multi-billion dollar investment, got personally involved in his reinstatement as CEO just weeks later. Jobs returned to Apple having cofounded Pixar and starting a new company called NeXT, which Apple subsequently bought 11 years later for $439 million, leading to Jobs' return.
Could we see Altman and OpenAI go further paralleling Apple?
The OpenAI boss has reportedly been weighing up plans to create a consumer AI device that could be his shot at creating an AI equivalent of an iPhone. The parallel feels even more relevant, considering hints that he's teaming up with Apple's legendary design chief Jony Ive.
There are of course companies already working on AI devices, like the startup Humane, which is creating an AI pin you can wear and talk to. That means OpenAI wouldn't be first to market with something like an AI consumer device.
Being first was never Apple's style. It might not be OpenAI's style in the future either.