--- title: "OpenAI Is Secretly Building a Social Network" description: "OpenAI has been secretly experimenting with an X, formerly Twitter, styled social network, after Sam Altman joked about doing just that." date: "2025-04-17" modified: "2025-04-17" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/openai-building-social-network" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "twitter" --- # OpenAI Is Secretly Building a Social Network ![OpenAI has been secretly experimenting with an X, formerly Twitter, styled social network, after Sam Altman joked about doing just that.]() *\Image: Taylor Hill via Getty / Futurism\* Picture this: a social network populated mainly by AI bros. Sound like the place to hang? We ask because OpenAI has been secretly building its own social media platform, which [*The Verge* reports]() is intended to resemble X-formerly-Twitter — the social media middleweight owned by CEO [Sam Altman's]() arch-nemesis, [Elon Musk](). The project is still getting off the ground, but an internal prototype with a social media feed revolves around ChatGPT's [new image generation capabilities](), which you may be familiar with from the flood of [Ghibli-styled AI images]() that dominated social media feeds last month. Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project, according to the *Verge*. If it goes ahead, it sounds reminiscent of how X directly integrates Musk's [Grok AI model]() into the website, where it operates both as a standalone chatbot, while also being capable of responding directly to users' posts at their request. This is an aspect that Grok-slash-X's competitors envy. "The Grok integration with X has made everyone jealous," an employee working at a major AI lab told the *Verge*. "Especially how people create viral tweets by getting it to say something stupid." Meta has also tried its hand at infusing AI into its own platforms, Facebook and Instagram, though perhaps with less success. Mainly, it's faced [significant scrutiny]() for [experimenting with entire AI-generated profiles](), though it's also reportedly working on a standalone app for its AI chatbot, Meta AI. Altman responded to that news in February with a [tweet]() saying, "maybe we'll do a social app" — and now it seems he wasn't messing around. If OpenAI can gain a substantial user base, it would give it an invaluable stream of real-time user data to tap into, an advantage that both X and Meta enjoy. ChatGPT is already the industry's most popular chatbot, and recently sealed its dominance by becoming the [world's most downloaded app]() in March. Any extra data it can squeeze out of its own fans is just icing on the cake, especially as fresh training data is [harder to come by these days](). Competition remains fierce, and Musk, whose [bitter rivalry with Altman]() and OpenAI stems back to the days when they were both involved in the then non-profit, has [threatened to buy the company]() out from underneath Altman's control. It's early days, though. We don't know OpenAI's social media stab will be released as part of the existing ChatGPT app, or be its own thing. We don't even know if OpenAI plans to see it through. In any case, it's a pretty big departure from anything OpenAI has attempted before. **More on AI:** *[OpenAI Is Taking Spammers' Money to Pollute the Internet at Unprecedented Scale]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()