Apps in ChatGPT and the New Apps SDK | Hacker News Reader

Apps in ChatGPT and the New Apps SDK

openai.com

22 pointsmeetpateltech8 comments

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Built on MCP as foundation. Ability to use Developer mode.

Docs: https://developers.openai.com/apps-sdk

availability: all logged-in ChatGPT users outside of the EU* on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans.

launch: Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify and Zillow + English only.

soon: EU apps; app submission reviews + monetization

This has echoes of facebook platforms and the ios platform, but do we really need another platform? And are people not already wary of platform walled gardens and their abusive practices? And does ChatGPT really have the popularity and lock-in to launch a walled garden?

If ChatGPT brings in the traffic, then there is opportunity to increase conversion. If your business sees dropping traffic from Search and increasing traffic from ChatGPT, being able to monetize the traffic. On top, if your competition meets customers where they are, you're kinda forced to go there as well and compete.

So we go from being hostages to google to being hostages to openAI?

At some point, they won't even need your personal data; the models will be good enough to be 99% accurate in predicting your consumer relevant behaviors simply by modeling most of your demographics. They'll be able to do the truly scary cognitohazard things like model voting behaviors with super sophisticated and complex A/B sequences for eliciting behaviors at scale. I think something in this vein will likely cause the first major AI "incident" resulting in legislation, but if the wrong players get ahead with the massive modeling and manipulation sims, they might effectively be immune from regulation. Think about all the old subliminal messaging and brainwashing scares, and while ads on tv and subtle media hacks could see limited success, stuff like simulating populations wholesale could allow a politician to craft hyperpersuasive campaigns for which none of us have any defenses, and it might as well appear to be a natural series of messages and debates and conversations.

I don't know if infinite feeds are particularly apt for this use case, but it certainly looks that way - having an AI carefully tune the pace, visual appeal, timing, and messaging of events could almost trivially program people to see the world in a particular way desired by the operators. I don't think OpenAI is particularly susceptible to going down this path, but there are plenty of entities out there in the world who'd make use of this tech. It'll go from authentic human debate and conversation around current events to carefully managed AI driven salvos of content, using the "authentic" human content in the same way that Bumblebee uses word snippets from radio broadcasts to put his sentences together. You won't even notice the manipulation, and will agree or be mad or be shocked on demand, whatever is most likely to nudge your future behavior in the direction desired by the manipulators.

We should probably get around to outlawing the levers these systems can use, like feed manipulation, large population psychometrics, and so on.

If new apps are automatically surfaced, how do you know you’re getting the authentic app? Eg “Zilow” vs “Zillow” or something… is this the new typosquatting?

    ChatGPT can also suggest apps when they’re relevant to the conversation. For example, if you’re talking about buying a new home, ChatGPT can surface the Zillow app as a suggestion so you can browse listings that match your budget on an interactive map right inside ChatGPT.

    […]

    As more developers build with the Apps SDK, the list of what’s possible will keep growing. Because these apps appear naturally in your chats, you’ll find them when they’re most likely to be useful.

Not really a feature that I am excited about, but that is just my opinion. I imagine plenty of people will find utility in the various apps.

Though, the one app that may pique my interest when it is released is the Khan Academy app. Though, I am not sure what will be between asking the Khan Academy app a question vs. just asking ChatGPT the same question.

ChatGPT already knows about these Khan Academy videos so there is not much to get if there is another app out of an app. However, it could be use cases where it can pull out real time information like e-commerce stock or sales deals that users might find very useful as this won’t be available within ChatGPT’s old training data.

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