OpenAI is shifting from breakout innovator to ecosystem builder, layering features like chat “memory” and image libraries while exploring social and hardware plays to keep users inside its orbit. The strategy mirrors Apple and Google’s walled gardens, where interlocking services drive retention and raise switching costs—an approach that could determine who wins the AI platform race. But the tighter coupling also invites scrutiny: U.S. officials have already probed Big Tech’s bundling and defaults, and similar lock-in tactics in AI could draw antitrust attention. The stakes are high as incumbents leverage existing platforms and distribution while OpenAI scrambles to assemble its own defensible moat.
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