I see a lot of people compare OpenAI to AWS - as a provider of infrastructure where you build apps on TOP of it.
But what if OpenAI is more like Apple - as an owner of an ecosystem where they build a direct relationship with the end user and you build apps AROUND it.
OpenAI-as-API forces the developers to launch with a business model that covers their OpenAI API usage or ask users to hand over their API key to use the product.
Both are a barrier to entry. OpenAI can (has) reduce the barrier by lowering the cost, but the barrier stands.
In OpenAI-as-Ecosystem, app developers access the OpenAI API that the user brings with them - a ChatGPT Plus subscription, or the rumored Foundry clusters, or - in the future - a personalized LLM tuned specifically for the user.
"But that assumes that most people will pay to use OpenAI. That'll never happen!"
Maybe. But I don't think the future where we surrender few hundred dollars a year to access the best AI model isn't as crazy as it sounds. We already do something like that with phones.
The bet is that the impact the AI-powered apps - either in productivity or entertainment - will be as big, if not bigger, than what smartphones has done in the past two decade.
I really don't think this is a moonshot kinda bet. To a lot of people, this is already happening.