Ask HN: If the models are so good, why doesn't OpenAI just start 100 companies?
The author questions why AI frontier companies like OpenAI and Anthropic focus on selling model access rather than building their own end-user products. The piece suggests that application-side development might offer higher profit margins than the increasingly commoditized utility model.
Why it matters
This highlights a growing debate in the tech industry regarding the long-term business viability of AI model providers versus AI-enabled product companies.
Title is a bit of an exaggeration but the question is more: if the frontier models are so good, why even sell them as your primary money maker?
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in