This year’s OpenAI DevDay might not have seemed flashy at first glance. There were no model-name fireworks or big token-limit headlines. But I think what OpenAI showed this week is more important than any of that.
They’re building the foundation for what might become the next generation of the Internet itself, one defined not by pages or apps but by interactions.
What They Actually Showed
The announcements were practical.
ChatGPT now supports embedded apps that can live directly inside conversations. Developers can build and deploy them with a new Apps SDK, use AgentKit to create capable assistants, and tie everything together through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets models talk to data and services safely.
If that sounds technical, it is. But the bigger picture is clear. OpenAI isn’t just releasing smarter models; it’s building the scaffolding for an AI-native platform, jumping past the AI browser trend and directly into building a new digital ecosystem. Owned by them, of course, but with the promise of an open system that competes on the quality of intelligence rather than the size of the walled garden.
I hope that stays true.
Intent vs. Capability
Most reactions focused on what the demos could do. I’m more interested in what the demos mean.
For years, AI progress has been measured by model size or reasoning benchmarks. This event shifts the focus from capability to revealing intent, moving away from isolated intelligence toward connected ecosystems. OpenAI’s plan is to make ChatGPT the interface where people and digital systems meet, not just a chatbot that answers questions.
That is a massive change in direction, from fancy model tricks to actually useful, real-world applications. It signals a company aiming to be the connective tissue of digital life, the “everything app” that X has claimed it wants to be since Elon acquired it.
The Emerging AI Internet
While some companies chase the dream of an “AI browser,” OpenAI is quietly building an AI Internet of its own.
Each app inside ChatGPT can interact with data, services, and users through a consistent, conversational interface. In effect, they are turning natural language into the new operating system. If this scales, the boundaries between “chat,” “app,” and “workflow” start to dissolve.
Adding in previously introduced features like AI memory, it is easy to see why this creates a moat. Once your service lives natively inside the conversational layer and has memory and understanding of you, users stop visiting websites and start talking to systems. It is also easy to see the risk: a future where the web fragments into closed, AI-mediated ecosystems.
See my earlier article on The Future of AI Memory for more on that.
A Quiet Nod to Openness
Openness might be the most important signal here. By anchoring this ecosystem to the Model Context Protocol (MCP), OpenAI is acknowledging that interoperability, not exclusivity, is the sustainable path forward. MCP could evolve into a shared standard that allows multiple AI engines to cooperate instead of competing for isolation. That would be a better direction for everyone.
Boom, Bust, and the Event Horizon
There is plenty of talk about economic models, app stores, and monetization, but I think those details miss the point. We are heading toward an inflection where the economics of intelligence itself change.
Maybe it is boom or bust. Maybe both. But from where I stand, it looks like the edge of a singularity, not a sci-fi fantasy but a practical one. The rules of digital work, creation, and connection are being rewritten, and we cannot see beyond the horizon yet.
While I may not know what specific actions will prove best in the emerging AI economy, I do know that momentum matters more than precision right now. There is little capital risk in early, simple efforts to make your services AI-accessible. The real risk is not overspending, that is a problem for the AI giants, it is waiting too long. Time spent now experimenting and learning will pay dividends in perspective at worst, and at best, it will give your organization an early foothold in a new economy.
What Businesses Should Hear
For businesses, non-profits, and governments, these announcements should ring louder than they have.
We are moving into a world where being “AI-accessible” will matter as much as being mobile-friendly did fifteen years ago. If your data, tools, and services are not built for intelligent agents to reach and reason about, you are effectively offline in the next generation of user interaction.
The good news is that the barrier to entry is lower than it has ever been. With MCP, Agent SDKs, and even AI-driven coding assistants, integrating with these systems no longer requires massive engineering teams. What it does require is vision, and that is the part still in short supply.
Do not fall into the trap of thinking AI means the end of software engineering. It is the opposite. The organizations that thrive will be the ones that empower their most capable IT professionals, the people who understand both code and context, to architect AI integrations intentionally. This is not the time to downsize your technical teams; it is the time to make them strategic partners in reshaping how your business operates.
I talk about this more in my recent article on The Future Belongs to Engineers who Understand Why.
The Time to Move Is Now
If you lead a business, a nonprofit, or a government program, this is your moment to prepare for the shift. Do not wait for someone to define the standards for you. Build small experiments, connect your systems, and make your data discoverable to intelligent agents.
We have entered the era where user experience is no longer about screens or clicks; it is about conversations. Those who adapt early will define the language of this new medium. Those who wait will be invisible to it.
OpenAI did not just demo new features at DevDay 2025. They quietly showed what the next decade of digital interaction will look like. The only real question is whether we will participate in building it or watch it happen from the sidelines.
What do you think? Are we ready for an AI-native Internet, or are we building a walled garden in disguise? I would love to hear your perspective.