OpenAI is considering building a social network to take on Elon Musk’s X and Meta’s Instagram, according to CNBC. The project is in its early stages and, at the moment, there is an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT’s image generation that has a social feed.

OpenAI would like to continue its growth and having a social-network angle may help the process. ChatGPT is finding users and customers through word of mouth, which is also a successful element when it comes to social media platforms.

Having a social platform may also help OpenAI look at a fresh source of data to train its models on. At the moment, the company has limited options for fresh and current content. The company has made deals with some media companies as well as platforms like Reddit but it doesn’t always help come across data that’s current. Meta, Google, and xAI, on the other hand, have hundreds of millions of users providing them with new content daily.

It’s unclear if OpenAI’s plan is to release the social network as a separate app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app globally last month.

Also, having a social network will increase the rivalry between Musk and Altman. In February, after Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Altman responded: “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

Further, a new social network will offer direct competition with Meta’s products. When reports of Meta building a rival to the ChatGPT app first surfaced a couple of months ago, Altman posted on X/Twitter:“Ok fine maybe we’ll do a social app.”

In March, OpenAI introduced its latest image-generation tool that helps produce everything from diagrams, infographics and logos to business cards and stock photos. The feature can also use an image as a starting point for art. Imagine the potential of such features in a social network setting.

Last year, the rumour was that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was working with former Apple designer Jony Ive on the “iPhone of AI”.