… OpenAI is making a play to be the Windows of AI.

For nearly two decades smartphones, and in particular iOS, have been the touchstones in terms of discussing platforms. It’s important to note, however, that while Apple’s strategy of integrating hardware and software was immensely profitable, it entailed leaving the door open for a competing platform to emerge. The challenge of being a hardware company is that by virtue of needing to actually create devices you can’t serve everyone; Apple in particular didn’t have the capacity or desire to go downmarket, which created the opportunity for Android to not only establish a competing platform but to actually significantly exceed iOS in market share.

That means that if we want a historical analogy for total platform dominance — which increasingly appears to be OpenAI’s goal — we have to go back further to the PC era and Windows. — Read More