In this episode of Generation AI, hosts Ardis Kadiu and Petar Djordjevic take you inside OpenAI's third annual Dev Day in San Francisco, breaking down the major announcements that are reshaping how we interact with AI. With ChatGPT now reaching 800 million weekly active users, OpenAI is positioning itself as the operating system of the future. Ardis and Petar, who attended the event in person, discuss three major announcement categories: Apps (native applications running directly in ChatGPT with deep integration), Agent Kit (a visual agent builder with built-in evaluation systems), and new models including GPT-5 Pro, Sora 2 video generation, and cheaper image options. They explore what these changes mean for developers, product builders, and higher education professionals, while sharing their first-hand observations from being in the room with 1,500 developers and AI industry leaders. This episode is essential listening for anyone trying to understand where AI platforms are headed and how to prepare for a future where ChatGPT becomes the hub for all your digital work.
Dev Day Experience: San Francisco and the AI Ecosystem (00:00:36)
- First-time experience attending OpenAI Dev Day in San Francisco with 1,500 attendees
- The unique culture of San Francisco's tech scene and AI billboards everywhere
- Meeting AI influencers, builders from major companies like Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft
- Comparing Element451's AI work against world-class builders and feeling competitive
- The optimism and grind culture among new builders and startup founders
The Three Big Announcement Categories (00:06:32)
- OpenAI's strategic shift: positioning ChatGPT as an operating system
- Three main categories: Apps, Agents, and new Models
- ChatGPT reaching 800 million weekly active users (not monthly - weekly)
- Processing billions of tokens daily across the platform
Apps in ChatGPT: The Third Try at an App Ecosystem (00:10:05)
- Native applications running directly in ChatGPT with deep integration
- Evolution from plugins (first attempt) to custom GPTs (second attempt) to Apps SDK (third attempt)
- Launch partners: Canva, Booking.com, Expedia, Figma, Spotify, Khan Academy, Instacart, Uber, TripAdvisor
- Apps can share context with ChatGPT and return custom UI components
- Demo showing Coursera courses, Canva slide creation, and Zillow apartment search all within ChatGPT
- Apps SDK will be available to all developers by end of year
The Distribution Flywheel and Vendor Lock-in (00:14:53)
- 800 million users creates massive distribution leverage for app makers
- The more users work inside ChatGPT, the more context gets centralized
- This strengthens personalization but also increases switching costs
- ChatGPT becoming your memory and general assistant
- Discussion of potential for ads and payment systems within ChatGPT
- Users becoming more sticky to ChatGPT than to individual app websites
Agent Kit: Visual Agent Builder with Native Evals (00:18:38)
- Visual agent builder for orchestrating multi-agent workflows
- Chat Kit for embedding chat interfaces into applications
- Native evaluation system built directly into the platform
- Live demo: building a full agent for Dev Day conference in 8 minutes on stage
- Pre-built guardrails for PII data and harmful content
- Connections to file search, web search, and external systems via MCP protocol
- Similar to tools like Zapier, Make.com, and n8n but with embeddable chat widgets
How OpenAI Uses AI Internally (00:23:44)
- OpenAI shared three internal use cases at a breakout session
- Go-to-market agent: researches customers before meetings, preps demos, closes the loop after meetings
- Support agent: handles customer inquiries at scale (not outsourced, built in-house)
- When ChatGPT image generation launched, they got 10 million new users in a day
- Built-in evals allow systems to improve themselves over time using thumbs up/down feedback
Evals and Prompt Optimization: The Game Changer (00:25:23)
- Evals explained: non-deterministic outputs require grading systems
- Evolution from human graders to LLM graders
- OpenAI introducing prompt optimization using the GEPA algorithm (Genetic Pareto)
- System uses all your data and feedback to automatically improve prompts
- Connection to DSPY library and the movement toward automated prompt engineering
- Not locking users into OpenAI models - can use any model and send traces to the system
- Comparison with LangSmith and other tracing tools
New Models: GPT-5 Pro, Sora 2, and Image Mini (00:33:20)
- GPT-5 Pro now available via API (12x more expensive than standard ChatGPT)
- Takes minimum 15 minutes per task due to deep reasoning capabilities
- Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro for video generation now in API
- Sora app showing amazing video generation capabilities
- Demo with UK animation studio showing year-long process compressed to minutes
- GPT Image 1 Mini: 80% cheaper for cost-sensitive, high-frequency tasks
- Enables personalized images at scale for hundreds of thousands of users
- Two-tier Sora workflow: use smaller model to nail the prompt, then Pro for high fidelity
Real-Time Voice Models and Device Strategy (00:40:38)
- GPT Real-Time Mini Voice: 70% cheaper with improved quality
- Discussion about voice quality expectations and production use cases
- Speculation about OpenAI's strategy to get models small enough for on-device deployment
- The importance of voice as a natural interface for future applications
- Concerns about whether cheaper models sacrifice too much quality
Community Reactions and the Agent Debate (00:43:26)
- Mixed reactions to Agent Kit announcements
- Two camps: those excited about workflow builders vs. those disappointed it's "old paradigm"
- Debate about what defines an "agent" - no consensus in the industry
- Comparison with Claude Code's different approach: treating LLM as autonomous human
- Discussion of workflow builders vs. true autonomous agents
What This Means for Startups and Builders (00:47:40)
- Advice: still build in code, don't rely entirely on Agent Kit for production
- Agent Kit good for proof of concept and quick distribution
- Will take at least a year for App Store to catch fire with normal users
- Opportunity to be early in the ChatGPT App ecosystem
- Importance of building expertise with OpenAI's tooling and platform
The Everything App and Multi-Platform Future (00:50:30)
- ChatGPT positioning as the "Everything App" and operating system of the future
- Google announces Gemini Enterprise with similar agent builder capabilities
- Q4 2025 prediction: proliferation of agent builders across platforms
- Element451's approach: building agents that build agents using conversational interface
- Evolution from visual workflow canvas to AI-driven job creation
- Proactive AI that evaluates context and takes actions without predefined steps
Final Thoughts: The OpenAI Ecosystem (00:54:13)
- OpenAI as one of the most advanced AI labs with 4 million developers on platform
- ChatGPT as dominant chat assistant with massive ecosystem impact
- Key takeaways from being there in person and seeing the builder community
- How these announcements will shape the future of work and higher education
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Connect With Our Co-Host:
Dr. JC Bonilla
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcbonilla/
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