The obvious social play for OpenAI is to embed collaborative features within ChatGPT, leveraging its utility. Instead, the company launched Sora, a separate entertainment app. This focus on niche content creation over core product utility is a questionable strategy for building a lasting social network.
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Today's dominant AI tools like ChatGPT are perceived as productivity aids, akin to "homework helpers." The next multi-billion dollar opportunity is in creating the go-to AI for fun, creativity, and entertainment—the app people use when they're not working. This untapped market focuses on user expression and play.
AI video tools like Sora optimize for high production value, but popular internet content often succeeds due to its message and authenticity, not its polish. The assumption that better visuals create better engagement is a risky product bet, as it iterates on an axis that users may not value.
Higgsfield initially saw high adoption for viral, consumer-facing AI features but pivoted. They realized foundation model players like OpenAI will dominate and subsidize these markets. The defensible startup strategy is to ignore consumer virality and solve specific, monetizable B2B workflow problems instead.
Startups are becoming wary of building on OpenAI's platform due to the significant risk of OpenAI launching competing applications (e.g., Sora for video), rendering their products obsolete. This "platform risk" is pushing developers toward neutral providers like Anthropic or open-source models to protect their businesses.
Beyond its technical capabilities, OpenAI's app ecosystem within ChatGPT functions as a new distribution platform. For founders, this creates a strategic opportunity to build apps that serve as an interface layer to their product, opening a novel and potentially powerful channel for user acquisition and growth.
Despite its massive user base, OpenAI's position is precarious. It lacks true network effects, strong feature lock-in, and control over its cost base since it relies on Microsoft's infrastructure. Its long-term defensibility depends on rapidly building product ecosystems and its own infrastructure advantages.
The next generation of social networks will be fundamentally different, built around the creation of functional software and AI models, not just media. The status game will shift from who has the best content to who can build the most useful or interesting tools for the community.
OpenAI launched Sora 2 knowing it would generate copyrighted content to achieve viral growth and app store dominance, planning to implement controls only after securing market position and forcing rights holders to negotiate.
