I’m looking at Alcatraz Island from a Mediterranean restaurant in San Francisco with hundred-dollar fish entrées on the menu. As I make small discuss with different reporters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman jumps by way of the door on my left. Altman’s trying down at his naked iPhone to indicate us all one thing, and an intrusive thought slips out of my mouth: “No cellphone case is a daring alternative.”
In fact, I instantly understand that the billionaire CEO of OpenAI, who employs Apple veteran Jony Ive, cares extra about preserving the iPhone’s unique design than the $1,000 it prices to switch one.
“Pay attention, we’re going to ship a tool that’s going to be so stunning,” stated Altman, referring to OpenAI and Ive’s forthcoming AI system. “Should you put a case over it, I’ll personally hunt you down,” he joked.
Altman had gathered roughly a dozen tech reporters to affix him and different OpenAI executives for an on-the-record dinner (and off-the-record dessert). The night time raised extra questions than it answered.
For example, why is Nick Turley, the VP of ChatGPT, kindly passing me a lamb skewer only a week after launching GPT-5? Was this to make me write good issues about OpenAI’s greatest AI mannequin launch but, which was comparatively disappointing given the years of hype round it?
In contrast to GPT-4, which far outpaced rivals and challenged expectations of what AI can do, GPT-5 performs roughly on par with fashions from Google and Anthropic. OpenAI even introduced again GPT-4o and ChatGPT’s mannequin picker, after a number of customers expressed issues over GPT-5’s tone and its mannequin router.
However all through the night time, it grew to become clear to me that this dinner was about OpenAI’s future past GPT-5. OpenAI’s executives seemed that AI mannequin launches are much less essential than they have been when GPT-4 launched in 2023. In any case, OpenAI is a really totally different firm now, targeted on upending legacy gamers in search, shopper {hardware}, and enterprise software program.
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OpenAI shared some new particulars about these efforts.
Altman stated OpenAI’s incoming CEO of purposes, Fidji Simo, would oversee a number of shopper apps exterior of ChatGPT — ones OpenAI has but to launch. Simo is slated to begin work at OpenAI in just some weeks, and he or she may find yourself overseeing the launch of an AI-powered browser that OpenAI is reportedly growing to compete with Chrome.
Altman instructed OpenAI would even contemplate shopping for Chrome — probably a proposal that may be taken extra significantly than Perplexity’s bid — ought to it turn into accessible. “If Chrome is actually going to promote, we should always check out it,” he stated earlier than taking a look at all of us and asking: “Is it truly going to promote? I assumed it wasn’t gonna occur.”
Simo additionally may find yourself operating an AI-powered social media app — one thing the OpenAI CEO stated he’s focused on exploring. In actual fact, Altman stated there’s “nothing” inspiring to him about the best way AI is used on social media right now, including that he’s focused on “whether or not or not it’s doable to construct a a lot cooler form of social expertise with AI.”
Whereas Turley and Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO, largely gave the ground to Altman, consuming wine alongside the opposite seated friends, Altman additionally confirmed studies that OpenAI plans to again a brain-computer interface startup, Merge Labs, to compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. (“Now we have not carried out that deal but; I would really like us to.”)
How intertwined that firm might be with OpenAI’s fashions and units stays to be seen. Altman described it solely as a “an organization that we’d spend money on.”
For all of the discuss of browsers and mind chips, although, the elephant within the room remained GPT-5’s tough reception. Ultimately, the dialog circled again to the mannequin that had prompted our group dinner within the first place.
Turley and Altman say they’ve discovered lots from the expertise.
“I legitimately simply thought we screwed that up,” stated Altman on deprecating GPT-4o with out telling customers. Altman stated OpenAI will give customers a extra clear “transition interval” when deprecating AI fashions sooner or later.
Turley additionally stated OpenAI is already rolling out a brand new replace to make GPT-5’s responses “hotter,” however not sycophantic, such that it received’t reinforce damaging behaviors in customers.
“GPT-5 was simply very to the purpose. I like that. I exploit the robotic character — I’m German, you understand, no matter,” stated Turley. “However many individuals don’t, they usually actually like the truth that ChatGPT would truly test in with you.”
It’s a fragile steadiness for OpenAI to strike, particularly provided that some customers have developed dependencies on ChatGPT. Altman stated OpenAI believes that lower than 1% of ChatGPT customers have unhealthy relationships — which may nonetheless be tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Turley stated OpenAI labored with psychological well being specialists to develop a rubric to guage GPT-5’s solutions, guaranteeing that the AI mannequin will push again on unhealthy behaviors.
That stated, plainly GPT-5 hasn’t harm OpenAI’s enterprise. In actual fact, Altman stated OpenAI’s API site visitors doubled inside 48 hours of GPT-5’s launch, and the corporate is successfully “out of GPUs” because of all of the demand.
In some ways, the night time’s contradictions — disappointing launches, record-breaking utilization — mirrored OpenAI’s unusual actuality proper now.
Given OpenAI’s bets on browsers, mind chips, AI chatbots — and others the corporate is making round knowledge facilities, robotics, and vitality — Altman clearly has ambitions of operating a a lot larger firm than simply the ChatGPT maker. The ultimate type may look one thing like Google’s guardian Alphabet, however maybe even broader.
Because the night time wound down, it grew to become clear we weren’t gathered to replicate on GPT-5 in any respect. We have been being pitched on an organization that’s desperate to outgrow its well-known and controversial product.
It appears probably that OpenAI will go public to satisfy its large capital calls for as a part of that image. In preparation, I believe Altman desires to hone his relationship with the media. However he additionally desires OpenAI to get to a spot the place it’s now not outlined by its finest AI mannequin.
