OpenAI is exploring the idea of building a social media platform to rival Elon Musk’s X and Meta’s Instagram, according to a source familiar with the plans reported to CNBC. The project is still in early development and stems from the popularity of OpenAI’s new image-generation tool, which has been straining the company’s servers under heavy use. The Verge was first to report the news, and at the time of publication, OpenAI had declined to comment.

Now operating far from its original ethos of non-profit and research, the option to branch out into social media is at least being investigated by the company as a way that it can popularise and monetise its AI investments. OpenAI’s image generation features launched in March, and allows users to generate visuals such as diagrams, infographics, logos, and stylised portraits. Some of the more popular uses include animē-inspired selfies and AI-generated headshots, which have been shared widely on platforms like X and TikTok, and even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman briefly adopted an AI-generated image for his X profile. The surge in interest on launch prompted OpenAI to have to temporarily limit the feature, citing overloaded GPUs.

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