OpenAI Wants To Be The Windows Of AI

Summary

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Tech Brew Ride Home

Episode: OpenAI Wants To Be The Windows Of AI
Date: October 7, 2025
Host: Brian McCullough
Podcast: Tech Brew Ride Home by Morning Brew

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Brian McCullough breaks down the major announcement from OpenAI’s Developer Day: apps now run inside ChatGPT, not just on top of it, setting the stage for ChatGPT to become the “Windows of AI.” The show also covers booming prediction markets, California’s crackdown on loud streaming ads, and YouTube creator Mr. Beast’s concerns about AI’s impact on content creators.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. OpenAI’s In-Chat Apps: The Big Leap Forward

• Announcement Details (01:21–06:53)

  • OpenAI introduced native third-party apps running inside ChatGPT.
  • Leading partners at launch: Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, Zillow.
  • Users can:
    • Direct Canva to design slides via text.
    • Ask Zillow for home listings with interactive features.
    • Query Coursera about lesson content while watching videos—all within ChatGPT.
  • Apps SDK available in preview for developers; third-party app submissions and monetization coming later in 2025.
  • Initial rollout to free, plus, go, and pro ChatGPT users outside the EU, with business and education tiers coming later.

• Technical Foundation

  • Built on the open standard Model Context Protocol (MCP), pioneered by Anthropic.
  • SDK enables:
    • Real-time context sharing between apps and GPT models.
    • Lightweight app UIs—cards, carousels, full-screen, and picture-in-picture for immersive experiences (e.g., live quizzes, video, maps).

• App Directory and Safety

  • Strict requirements: apps must be useful, safe for teens, privacy-respecting, with clear consent and transparency.
  • Apps can personalize brand accents but not alter ChatGPT’s core design.
  • Verification of developer accounts mandatory.

• Notable Quotes & Moments

  • “Instead of launching apps one by one on your phone, computer, or on the web, now you can do all that without ever leaving ChatGPT.”
    — Brian McCullough (01:21)
  • “With many other apps already offering their own connections, this will enable a new generation of apps that are interactive, adaptive, and personalized that you can chat with.”
    — Co-host (02:24)
  • “[The Apps SDK] allows ChatGPT and the underlying GPT5...to obtain updated context from the third-party app or service, so the model always knows about exactly what your user is interacting with.”
    — Co-host paraphrasing OpenAI engineer Alexei Christakis (03:26)

• Demo Highlights

  • Seamless creation and multi-step editing of designs with Canva.
  • Using ChatGPT memory to suggest relevant Zillow searches, rendered as interactive maps with live filters.
  • Coursera app plays video inline and enables real-time Q&A.

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2. OpenAI’s Ambition: The Operating System for the AI Era

(06:53–11:05)

• Strategic Analysis

  • Brian and industry analyst Ben Thompson frame the move as OpenAI’s play to be “the Windows of AI.”
    • OpenAI wants to be indispensable across consumer and enterprise AI touchpoints.
    • Embracing both consumer and developer/API markets, rather than choosing one.
    • Capitalizing on “bubble” conditions to secure massive investments and infrastructure.

• Market Impact & Competition

  • “OpenAI is creating the conditions such that it is the primary manifestation of the AI bubble, which ensures the company is the primary beneficiary of all of the speculative capital flooding into the space.”
    — Brian McCullough quoting Ben Thompson (10:28)
  • Comparison: Google is likened to “Apple to OpenAI’s Microsoft”—integrating the stack, yet facing an ecosystem rallying around ChatGPT.

• OpenAI Stats

  • 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users.
  • 4 million developers building on OpenAI.
  • Over 6 billion tokens processed per minute on API.

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3. Prediction Markets: Polymarket’s Big Bet

(11:59–16:20)

• News Update

  • Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the NYSE, invests $2 billion in Polymarket, valuing it up to $10B.
  • Move signals mainstreaming of prediction markets for politics, sports, and global events.
  • Polymarket gained notoriety for correctly anticipating political outcomes and big election trades.

• Regulatory Landscape

  • The company previously clashed with US authorities, but under the Trump administration, its legal woes have eased.
  • High-profile backers include Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.

• Industry Trend

  • Competitor Kalshi sees growth through NFL bet contracts in partnership with Robinhood.
  • Debate: Should prediction markets handle sports betting, a field traditionally regulated by states?

• Notable Quote

  • “Polymarket’s relationship with the authorities has improved under the crypto-friendly Trump administration... justice prevailed.”
    — Brian McCullough (13:45)

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4. California Bans Loud Streaming Ads

(16:20–17:18)

• Policy Update

  • New California law restricts ad volume on streaming platforms.
  • Prompted by a legislator’s personal experience (baby being woken up by a loud ad).
  • Entertainment giants initially resisted, but legal shield provisions led to eventual legislative approval.
  • Law modeled on a 2010 federal TV regulation; takes effect July 2026.

• Notable Moment

  • “This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who’s finally gotten a baby to sleep only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work…”
    — Sen. Tom Umberg, quoted by Brian McCullough (16:22)

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5. Mr. Beast’s AI Anxiety: The Creator Perspective

(17:32–18:14)

• Creator Worries

  • Top YouTuber Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) expressed concern about AI-generated content threatening creator livelihoods, despite using the tech himself.
  • His comments reflect broader creator anxiety about AI’s impact on the content economy.

• Industry Influence

  • With 634 million followers and $85 million in 2025 earnings, Mr. Beast’s views are significant.
  • “If Mr. Beast is openly questioning whether AI is an existential threat to his business...smaller creators are likely even more worried.”
    — Co-host/Reporter (18:14)

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Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “Apps inside of ChatGPT is straight up a play to become the operating system of the AI age, and none other than Ben Thompson agrees with that assessment.”
  — Brian McCullough (06:53)
• “OpenAI meanwhile is the hottest brand in AI, so why not make a play to own it all from the consumer touchpoints to API to everything in between.”
  — Brian McCullough, summarizing Ben Thompson (09:44)
• “Scary times.”
  — Mr. Beast, quoted by co-host (17:51)
• “With many other apps already offering their own connections, this will enable a new generation of apps that are interactive, adaptive, and personalized that you can chat with.”
  — Co-host (02:24)

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Timeline of Important Segments

• (01:21–06:53): OpenAI in-chat apps demo, SDK details, and product vision
• (06:53–11:05): OpenAI platform strategy and analyst commentary
• (11:59–16:20): Prediction market boom and Polymarket investment news
• (16:20–17:18): California's streaming ad volume legislation
• (17:32–18:14): Mr. Beast/creator economy fears about AI media

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Episode Takeaways

• OpenAI’s major move to in-chat apps signals its ambition to dominate AI interactions the way Windows dominated PCs—positioning itself as the consumer-facing linchpin of the AI ecosystem.
• The tech and creator economy is being reshaped at every level: from financial infrastructure (prediction markets) and consumer rights (ad volume laws) to the existential concerns of top digital creators.
• The industry is watching: Will this be a productive AI bubble, and what infrastructure—and creative economy—will exist once it bursts?

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Transcript

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[Brian McCullough]

Welcome to the Tech Brew ride home for Tuesday, October 7, 2025 I'm Brian McCullough today forget building apps on top of ChatGPT. Now they've put the apps inside of ChatGPT.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Why?

[Brian McCullough]

This is a play for ChatGPT to become the windows of the AI era. The prediction market market continues to explode, turning down the volume on streaming ads and why Mr. Beast is worried about AI social media. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. When your business evolves, so does your.

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With Veeam, it's all good. Get workload coverage that works for your [e-mail] that's V E-E-A-M.com OpenAI held their developers day and the big news was that they announced apps that work inside of ChatGPT, piloting this new initiative with apps from the likes of Booking.com, canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow available for logged in users quoting VentureBeat in other words, instead of launching apps one by one on your phone, computer or on the web, now you can do all that without ever leaving ChatGPT. This feature allows the user to log into their accounts on those external apps and bring all their information back into ChatGPT and use the apps very similarly to how they already do outside of the Chatbot, but now with the ability to ask ChatGPT to perform certain actions, analyze content, or go beyond what each app could offer on its own.

[Co-host/Reporter]

You can direct Canva to make you slides based on a text description, ask Zillow for home listings in a certain area fitting certain requirements, or ask Coursera about a specific lesson's content while it plays on video, all from within ChatGPT. With many other apps also already offering their own connections, this will enable a new generation of apps that are interactive, adaptive and personalized that you can chat with, Sam Altman said. While the Apps SDK is available today in preview, OpenAI said it would not begin accepting new apps within ChatGPT or allow them to charge users until later this year. ChatGPT in the line App access is already rolling out to ChatGPT free plus go and pro users outside of the European Union only for now, with business, enterprise and education tiers expected to receive access to the apps later this year. Built on the Open Source Standard Model Context Protocol, or mcp, introduced by rival.

[Brian McCullough]

Anthropic nearly a year ago, the Apps.

[Co-host/Reporter]

SDK gives third party developers working independently or on behalf of enterprises large and small to connect selected data, trigger actions and render a fully interactive UI, Altman explained during his introductory keynote speech. The Apps SDK includes a Talking to Apps feature that allows ChatGPT and the underlying GPT5 or other O Series models piloting it underneath to obtain updated context from the third party app or service, so the model always knows about exactly what your user is interacting with. According to another presenter and OpenAI engineer Alexei Christakis, developers can build apps that appear inline in chat as lightweight cards or carousels expand to full screen for immersive tasks like maps, menus or slides. Use Picture in Picture for live sessions.

[Brian McCullough]

Such as video games or quizzes.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Each mode is designed to preserve ChatGPT's minimal conversational flow while adding interactivity and brand presence. Chris Takis showed off early integrations of external app builds atop the Apps SDK, including ones from elearning company Coursera, cloud design software company Canva and real estate listing and agent connections search engine Zillow. Altman also announced Apps SDK integrations with additional partners not demoed officially during the keynote, including booking.com, expedia, Figma, Spotify and in documentation, said more upcoming partners are on deck, including AllTrails, Peloton, OpenTable, Target, the Fork and Uber representing lifestyle, commerce and productivity categories. So they went on to extensively demo how this worked in practice. In a Coursera example, a simple prompt like Coursera can you teach me something about machine learning? Surfaced in In Chat Coursera Login after signing in, Coursera launched inline and could render full web experiences including interactive video. Christakis showed the app's SDK supports picture in picture and full screen and that videos can auto pin to the top so users keep watching while continuing a text conversation with ChatGPT below. Users can also ask questions about what they're saying right now without quoting the video. The agent's SDK streams the relevant segment server side to the model so it can an in context he then reopened an older chat about a sibling's dog walking business and asked the Canva app to create a poster for Walk this Wag, specifying sans serif fonts and a bright, colorful style instead of the user TAKing a template, ChatGPT issued commands to Canva in the background and returned several designs in line for review and iteration. Next, he asked ChatGPT to expand one slide into a full deck while introducing a Zillow integration using ChatGPT's optional memory. It suggested Pittsburgh as a target city, then pulled up an interactive Zillow map with listings, hover animations, and a full screen view offering filters, Tor requests and agent contact, plus a text summary of the actions taken. OpenAI stressed strict app directory standards would be applied. Apps must be useful, predictable, safe for teens, and privacy respecting, with clear policies, consent gates and action disclosures. Developer accounts must be verified and maintained. Design guidelines require apps to follow ChatGPT's visual system at accessibility rules. Partners may use logos and accent colors, but cannot alter the core UI or use promotional language.

[Brian McCullough]

So that is pretty, pretty big news. We'll come back to all that in a second. OpenAI also announced Agent Kit, a toolkit for building and deploying AI agents, including Agent Builder, which Sam Altman described as like Canva for building agents. Jony I've made an appearance, but only spoke in vague terms about the family of devices currently under development at OpenAI, Sam Altman said. It will take a while. Altman also broke the news that ChatGPT has reached 800 million weekly active users, 4 million developers have built with OpenAI, and OpenAI processes more than 6 billion tokens per minute on its API. But let's come back to that pretty, pretty big news. Apps inside of ChatGPT is straight up a play to become the operating system of the AI age, and none other than Ben Thompson agrees with that assessment. He calls it OpenAI's play to become the windows of AI, if you will. When I started writing Stratechary, Windows was a platform in decline, superseded by mobile and, surprisingly enough, increasingly challenged by its all but vanquished ancient foe, the Mac. Microsoft needed to make a choice. The days of doing everything were over, and that choice should be services. Which is exactly what Satya Nadella did. Ever since the emergence of ChatGPT made OpenAI the accidental consumer tech company, I have been making similar arguments about OpenAI. They need to focus on the consumer opportunity and leave the enterprise API market to say Microsoft. Not only would focus help the company capture the consumer opportunity, there was the opportunity cost of GPUs used for the API that couldn't be used to deliver consumers a better experience across every t I now have much more appreciation for OpenAI's insistence on doing it all for two reasons. First, this is a company in pure growth mode, not in decline. Trade offs are in the long run inevitable, but why make them before you need to? It would have been a mistake for Microsoft to restrict Windows to only the enterprise in the 1980s. Even if the company had to low key retreat from the consumer market over the last 15 years, there was a lot of money to make before that retreat needed to happen. OpenAI meanwhile, is the hottest brand in AI, so why not make a to own it all from the consumer touchpoints to API to everything in between. Second, we've obviously crossed the line into bubble territory, which always was inevitable. The question now is whether or not this is a productive bubble. What durable infrastructure will be built by eventually bankrupt companies that we benefit from for years to come? GPUs are not that durable infrastructure. Data centers are more long lasting but not worth the financial pain of a bubble burst. The real payoff would be a massive build out and power generation, which would be a benefit for the next half a century. Another potential payoff would be the renewed viability of intel. And as I noted above, OpenAI may be uniquely positioned and motivated to make that happen. More broadly, this play to be the windows of AI effectively positions OpenAI as the linchpin of the entire AI buildout. Just look at what the mere announcement of partnerships with OpenAI has done for the stocks of Oracle and AMD. OpenAI is creating the conditions such that it is the primary manifestation of the AI bubble, which ensures the company is the primary beneficiary of of all of the speculative capital flooding into the space. Were the company more focused, as I have previously advised, they may not have the leverage to get enough funding to meet those more modest but still incredible goals. Now it's hard to see them not getting whatever money they want, at least until the bubble bursts. And interestingly enough, there is an Apple to OpenAI's Microsoft. It's Google with their fully integrated stack from chips to data centers to models to end user distribution channels. Instead of taking on a menagerie of competitors, however, Google is facing an increasingly unified ecosystem, organized whether they wish to be or not around OpenAI, such as the power of aggregating demand and the phenomenon that is chatgpt.

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[Brian McCullough]

At some point I need to do a deep dive with y' all on the rise of prediction markets. I feel like that is a phenomenon that somehow we've missed analyzing more but more sign of that today as New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange is investing $2 billion in polymarket in a deal that could value it at between 8 and 10 billion dollars. Quoting the journal, the investment by one of the world's leading exchange operators, which has a market value of more than $90 billion, could enhance the betting platform's credibility and aid its efforts to re establish a US Presence. Atlanta based ICE said it would pay for the deal in cash and that it would become a distributor of Polymarket's event driven data. Investors are increasingly turning to Polymarket for fast changing probabilities that its betters assign to future events, such as election results or the length of a government shutdown. Polymarket was founded in 2020 and allows users to bet on yes or no questions about everything from politics and sports to popular culture. It is privately held and counts billionaire Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund as an invest. The New York based company drew attention last year for its betting markets on the presidential election. Its markets on the November 2024 vote attracted more than $2 billion in trading volume and drew widespread media coverage for correctly anticipating Donald Trump's victory. But Polymarket is banned in several countries as an unlicensed offshore gambling platform. It has been officially off limits to US users since 2022, following a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Biden administration. Days after Trump's election last year the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the phone of Polymarket's founder and chief executive, Shane Coplin. But polymarket's relationship with the authorities has improved under the crypto friendly Trump administration. Kaplan in mid July shared a Bloomberg article on social media that said Justice Department and CFTC probes into the company had ended, writing quote, justice prevailed. Donald Trump Jr. The president's son, joined Polymarket's advisory board in August, and his venture capital firm said 1789 Capital became an investor in the company. Polymarket also acquired a small US Licensed exchange and clearinghouse as part of its efforts to re enter the American market. Intercontinental Exchange has a record of jumping on emerging trends in the infrastructure of financial markets. The agreement with polymarket comes as prediction markets are enjoying an upswell of mainstream interest. Kalshi, a Polymarket competitor which was valued at $2 billion in a recent funding round, has enjoyed record trading volumes in recent weeks due to its contracts on the new National Football League season. Many of those football bets have been placed by users of Robinhood Markets, a Kalshi partner. Robinhood and Kalshi's push into sports has prompted an outcry from the gambling industry and state gaming regulators who argue that prediction markets shouldn't be offering sports bets. A business traditionally regulated by the states, Intercontinental Exchange also has its own ties to the Trump administration. Its chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Spreacher, is married to Trump ally Kelly Loeffler, who serves as administrator of the Small Business Administration and briefly served as a U.S. senator from Georgia. End quote. California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law banning excessively loud ads on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon prime, the first such law in the US modeled apparently after a 2010 law quoting Politico, the new California law is aimed at addressing what the Federal Communications Commission has called a troubling jump in TV ad noise complaints fueled by streamers airing commercials louder than the shows and movies they accompany. It's modeled off a federal law passed in 2010 that CAPS AD volumes on cable and broadcast TV but doesn't apply to streaming services. Given the Golden State's massive sway in the entertainment industry, the new law may strong arm streamers into shushing commercials nationwide. We heard Californians loud and clear, and what's clear is that they don't want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a program, newsom said in a statement. California is dialing down this inconvenience across streaming platforms. State Senator Tom Umberg, the Orange County Democrat who authored SB576, said the idea.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Was inspired by his legislative director, Zach.

[Brian McCullough]

Keller, who complained that loud streaming commercials were waking up his infant daughter, Samantha. This bill was inspired by baby Samantha and every exhausted parent who's finally gotten a baby to sleep only to have a blaring streaming ad undo all that hard work, umberg said in a statement. Umberg's bill faced resistance from Hollywood giants this summer. The Motion Picture association and Streaming Innovators alliance, which together represent entertainment conglomerates including Disney, Paramount, Amazon and Netflix, initially opposed the law, arguing that streaming ads come from multiple different sources and are hard to control. The MPA claimed in house audio engineers.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Were already working on a fix and.

[Brian McCullough]

Needed time to solve the issue without facing legal threats. However, the group dropped its opposition after Umberg added legal provisions shielding streamers from.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Lawsuits brought by private parties, leaving enforcement.

[Brian McCullough]

Up to the state attorney general's office. The amended bill passed California's state legislature with overwhelming support from Democrats and Republicans. Streamers must comply with the new volume.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Limits by July 2026.

[Brian McCullough]

End quote. Finally, this sort of echoes some of my thoughts on Sora and that whole.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Question of AI taking over social media from last week.

[Brian McCullough]

Quoting TechCrunch top YouTube creator Mr.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Beast is worried about AI's impact on.

[Brian McCullough]

Creators livelihoods, despite having dabbled with using the technology himself.

[Co-host/Reporter]

On Monday, the creator posted his concerns.

[Brian McCullough]

On social media, where he openly wondered.

[Co-host/Reporter]

How AI generated videos could affect the.

[Brian McCullough]

Millions of creators currently making content for a living. Scary times, he added. Mr. Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Is number one on Forbes 2025 list.

[Brian McCullough]

Of top creators with $85 million in earnings and 634 million followers. What he says and does as a.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Result of his position has an outsized.

[Brian McCullough]

Influence across the industry.

[Co-host/Reporter]

So if Mr. Beast is openly questioning whether AI is.

[Brian McCullough]

An existential threat to his business and others like it, then it's fair to say that even smaller creators are likely even more worried. End quote.

[Co-host/Reporter]

Nothing more for you today.

[Brian McCullough]

Talk to you tomorrow.