Did OpenAI Just Kill a Bunch of Agent Startups? OpenAI DevDay 2025 First Reactions

Unknown Source October 06, 2025 19 min

generative-ai artificial-intelligence startup openai

46 Companies

53 Key Quotes

3 Topics

🎯 Summary

Summary of OpenAI DevDay Rapid Reaction Podcast Episode

This rapid reaction episode focuses on the immediate takeaways and implications of the announcements made during the ongoing OpenAI DevDay, particularly assessing the impact of the new Apps SDK and Agent Kit on the AI ecosystem.

1. Main Narrative Arc and Key Discussion Points

The episode centers on a rapid analysis of the DevDay keynote, structured around answering two primary questions:

Did OpenAI just kill a bunch of agent builder startups? (Focusing on Agent Kit)
Are the new ChatGPT Apps just GPTs 2.0? (Focusing on the Apps SDK)

The overall vibe perceived by attendees was a shift from “big innovation” to practical integration and tooling, with developer excitement highest for Agents, followed by Codex updates, and then Apps.

2. Major Topics, Themes, and Subject Areas Covered

OpenAI Status Update: 4 million developers, 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, 6 billion tokens/minute on the API.
Key Announcements Categories: Apps/ChatGPT, Agent Kit, Codex updates, and API updates.
Agent Builder Competition: The threat posed by OpenAI’s native agent building tools to existing startups like Zapier, Lindy, and n8n.
ChatGPT Apps SDK: Deep integration allowing ChatGPT to interact with third-party applications in real-time.
Model Updates (Minor): GPT Real-Time Mini (voice, 70% cheaper) and GPT Image 1 Mini (80% cheaper), though not highlighted in the main keynote.
API Upgrades: Arrival of GPT-5 Pro and Sora 2/Sora 2 Pro on the API.

3. Technical Concepts, Methodologies, or Frameworks Discussed

Agent Kit: Includes a visual canvas for multi-agent workflows, Chat Kit for embedding chat, and a native eVals platform for tracing, grading, and optimizing agent decision-making.
Model Context Protocol (MCP): The underlying protocol enabling the deep integration within the Apps SDK.
Talking to Apps: A feature within the Apps SDK allowing ChatGPT to maintain context from the running application (e.g., pausing a Coursera video to ask a question about the content).

4. Business Implications and Strategic Insights

Agent Startups: OpenAI’s entry makes competition significantly harder due to superior distribution. However, startups like Zapier argue their strength lies in their vast ecosystem (8,000 apps, 30,000 actions), which OpenAI’s initial builder lacks.
Model Flexibility Wedge: Startups can maintain a competitive edge by offering model flexibility, allowing enterprises to switch between foundation models, a limitation inherent in a foundation model company’s native agent builder.
Apps as Context Lock-in: The most significant strategic implication of the Apps SDK might be creating a “context black hole,” locking users into ChatGPT as the essential companion layer for consuming other services (like Coursera or Zillow), thus driving consumer lock-in.
Shift to Integration: The announcements signal a phase of practical integration, where incremental updates (like API improvements) are essential for unlocking real-world value beyond initial demos.

5. Key Personalities, Experts, or Thought Leaders Mentioned

Sam Altman: Presented the keynote.
Ali Miller: Reported on developer excitement levels in the room.
Lindy Founder (Flow): Responded defiantly to OpenAI’s agent builder announcement.
Zapier: Provided a specific counter-argument regarding ecosystem breadth.
Ethan Mollick: Suggested Agent Kit, in its current form, might be too technical and “single-player” to replace the mass-market vision of GPTs.
Sean Wang (Swix): Noted that the Apps SDK feels like a fundamentally more fleshed-out integration than previous GPTs.
Dan Shipper (Every): Observed that the announcements felt more geared toward AI Ops roles than hardcore AI engineers.
Matt Schumer: Highlighted the massive impact of GPT-5 Pro and Sora 2 coming to the API, despite the high cost of GPT-5 Pro (12x regular GPT-5).

6. Predictions, Trends, or Future-Looking Statements

The Apps SDK is unlikely to be a simple “GPTs 2.0.” While some integrations (like Canva) might involve tradeoffs, others (like Coursera and Zillow) fundamentally enhance the experience by adding ChatGPT context, making them feel indispensable.
The Agent Kit, while powerful, is currently geared toward developers building agents rather than mass consumer adoption of shared agents.
The API updates (GPT-5 Pro, Sora 2 Pro) are expected to have a massive, immediate impact on what developers can build, potentially unlocking new use cases despite the high cost.

7. Practical Applications and Real-World Examples

Coursera App: Pausing an educational video and asking ChatGPT to explain the current segment, leveraging the SDK’s context-sharing capability.
Zillow App: Asking ChatGPT contextual questions about a property listing that the native Zillow app cannot answer.
Canva App: Generating initial logo or deck ideas within ChatGPT, though the speaker doubted this would replace final production work in the full Canva environment.

8. Controversies, Challenges, or Problems Highlighted

Agent Builder Competition:

🏢 Companies Mentioned

Every ✅ media

What I ✅ unknown

OpenAI API ✅ unknown

Both GPT ✅ unknown

Writes Matt Schumer ✅ unknown

Codex CLI ✅ unknown

AI Ops ✅ unknown

Dan Shipper ✅ unknown

Apps SDK ✅ unknown

ChatGPT Apps SDK ✅ unknown

Sean Wang ✅ unknown

Ethan Mollick ✅ unknown

Ali Miller ✅ unknown

GPT Image ✅ unknown

Time Mini ✅ unknown

💬 Key Insights

"So, it strikes me that apps might be a sneaky way to get closer to ChatGPT of a real, true assistant for every person."

Impact Score: 10

"I think what's interesting from a competitive landscape perspective is the potential that apps turn into a context black hole where OpenAI simply sucks in all of the context and information and creates just an absolutely enormous advantage for themselves when it comes to consumer lock-in around ChatGPT."

Impact Score: 10

"These updates that seem incremental are actually just pretty essential for making these tools live up to their promise. It may not be as big in splashy, but it is the phase that we're in, and it's the stuff that's going to unlock a lot of the actual real-lived value of these things that goes beyond just the demo stage."

Impact Score: 10

"Both GPT-5 Pro and Sora 2 are coming to the OpenAI API today. These models are both massively better than what developers had access to just a day ago. (Quote from Matt Schumer)"

Impact Score: 10

"Overall, it feels to me like there was some amount of a vibe of this being a shift from big innovation to more practical integration."

Impact Score: 10

"The interaction with Coursera, where the person who was doing the demo stopped the educational video that they were watching to ask ChatGPT to explain more about what they're saying right now... ChatGPT actually had that context and was able to answer that question."

Impact Score: 10

📊 Topics

#generativeai 86 #artificialintelligence 61 #startup 5