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TL;DR
OpenAI Dev Day had a lot of launches. Many of them look like answers to products we've already seen.
That's normal when things move this fast and moats are thin.
The two big ones: Dots, a personal assistant, and Pro 500, a $500 a month plan. My take - the assistant that wins will be free. And AI is about to get more expensive.
Plus: I'm co-hosting Own Your Distribution at SF Tech Week this Tuesday, Oct 6, in San Francisco. RSVP here.
1. Dots is here (and the CFO called it Muse)
OpenAI launched Dots. It's a personal assistant that can do stuff for you, using a computer in the cloud.
If that sounds a lot like Muse, you're not alone. Even OpenAI's CFO thinks so.
Sarah Friar slipped and called Dots "Muse" in a live interview. It doesn't get funnier than that.
Dots also got a “cute” personality. Or at least, OpenAI tried to give it one.
2. Everything has a twin
Dots wasn't the only launch that felt familiar. Here's the scorecard:
Dots is like Muse.
Spaces is like Claude Cowork Cloud.
Codex Cloud is like Claude Dispatch.
Decisions API is like Jev.
And a Meetings plugin.
A meetings plugin, of course. They all need to snoop on us to be able to "assist."
It's par for the course right now. Every AI lab will do most things.
3. The war on personal assistants is on
Sam Altman can't resist building consumer apps. They'll die trying.
The funniest thing that happened on Dev Day - On the morning of the launch, dot.com redirected to the Grok Bot page. Just for fun. Turns out Musk owns the domain.
The internet thinks he bought the domain back in July because he knew Dots was coming. That seems like a stretch to me.
Either way, the fight is on.
4. The assistant that wins will be free
The consumer assistant that wins will be free.
There's no world where the average person pays for a personal assistant forever.
A quick story from Twitter. A well-known investor asked: what are the daily use cases for a personal assistant?
The truth? Right now, there aren't any.
That's why everyone is looking at shopping as the use case. Alexa tried and failed badly.
The average person likes to shop. They're not looking to hand it off.
According to this investor, "It's kind of fun shopping with an expert."
The rich are used to shopping with a personal shopper. Most people have never had one, and don't want one.
We’re building products for the 1% to get funded by the 1%.
So far, Anthropic hasn’t fallen for the sexy consumer plays. If I had to bet today, I'd say they won't build one. (I'll stand corrected if they do.)
Own Your Distribution: this Tuesday at SF Tech Week
Everyone can ship the same features now. What sets you apart is who knows you exist.
That's what we're talking about this Tuesday.
I'm co-hosting with AJ Yadav (@thevibefounder), creator and co-founder at Otto AI. AJ has grown his audiences to 800K+ in record time.
I've grown mine to 80K+ across LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. And 100% of FinalLayer's revenue comes from inbound.
We'll talk about how founders build an audience on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. How to earn trust. And how to turn that attention into customers.
Tuesday, Oct 6 · 5:30 PM · San Francisco
Come if you're building something and want more of the right people to know it exists. RSVP here.
5. Pro 500: AI is about to cost more
OpenAI launched Pro 500. You can now pay $500 a month for ChatGPT.
At the same time, they're cutting the usage on the $200 plan in half.
When it all shakes out, subscribers will pay about half of what the API costs. That's how much of a discount OpenAI is willing to give on subscriptions. So things are going to get pricey.
There is some good news. Newer models like GPT-6.1 Sol use far fewer tokens. So maybe, net-net, we'll be okay.
But the pressure to make money and get out of the red is huge. And it's starting to show.
If OpenAI is doing this, expect Anthropic to do something similar.
6. Decisions API vs. Jev
OpenAI also announced a Decisions API to rival Jev.
Of course, on Twitter drama, the Jev team got louder to rise above the noise. Diogo is posting what looks like a WhatsApp chat with his mom about what they're launching next. Wild!
If you want cringe, this is it.
7. The rest of the list
OpenAI shipped a bunch more, including:
A code review tool
Agents in the cloud with managed compute
Plugins
Plugins were the big one. You can now add your app to ChatGPT with a plugin. For some apps, that could mean real exposure.
The question for founders
If every AI lab is going to build most things, what's left that's truly yours?
Your distribution. The people who know you, trust you, and show up when you ship.
Want to talk about how to build it? Come say hi on Tuesday. Grab your spot here.
