OpenAI shifts strategy toward platform distribution as Altman lays out three steps
OpenAI is moving from selling models to running a connecting platform; distribution is the next phase to watch.
Altman has set a three-step commercial route for OpenAI, ending at a platform that connects enterprises.
According to Business Insider, Altman said at the developer conference in San Francisco on September 29 that the path runs through "models," "build" and "distribution": first offer the best models, then let developers build products on them easily, and finally turn OpenAI into a marketplace platform connecting enterprises with each other.
Supporting moves are already underway: the Codex coding tool has gone to the cloud, new agent APIs were announced, and enterprise customers can put part of their existing OpenAI spending commitments toward partners' products. The company also disclosed the same day that ChatGPT now has more than 1.2 billion weekly users.
Anthropic and other rivals keep competing on capability and price; whether the three steps hold up depends on execution.