> OpenAI made the extraordinary and IMO under-discussed decision to use an open API specification format, where every API provider hosts a text file on their website saying how to use their API. This means even this plugin ecosystem isn’t a walled garden that only the first mover controls. I don’t fully understand why they went this way, but I’m grateful they did.

Why is this extraodinary? What would be the advantage of going through all the effort of defining a new format just to create busywork for people trying to integrate with you?

It's not like there would be anything stopping Bard/Alpaca/etc. from reading the same format as OpenAI.