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OpenAI is set to launch the GPT Store, a platform for custom apps based on its text-generating AI models, including GPT-4. Developers must adhere to updated usage policies and brand guidelines to list their GPTs on the store.

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OpenAI intends to launch a store for GPTs, or custom apps based on its text-generating AI models (for example, GPT-4), within the next week.

OpenAI stated in an email obtained by TechCrunch that developers creating GPTs must review the company’s updated usage policies and GPT brand guidelines to ensure that their GPTs are compliant before they can be listed in the store, aptly named the GPT Store. They’ll also need to verify their user profile and make sure their GPTs are set to “public.”

The GPT Store was announced last year during OpenAI’s first annual developer conference, DevDay, but was delayed in December — almost certainly due to a leadership shakeup that occurred just after the initial announcement in November. (The short version of the story is that OpenAI’s board of directors forced CEO Sam Altman out and then rehired him after investors and employees panicked.)

GPTs do not require any coding knowledge and can be as simple or complex as the developer desires. A GPT, for example, can be trained using a cookbook collection to answer questions about ingredients for a specific recipe. A GPT could also consume a company’s proprietary codebases, allowing developers to check their style or generate code that adheres to best practices.

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Developers can simply type in plain language the capabilities they want their GPT to provide, and OpenAI’s GPT-building tool, GPT Builder, will attempt to create an AI-powered chatbot to perform those tasks. Since shortly after DevDay, developers have been able to create and share GPTs with others directly through the ChatGPT website, but they have not been publicly listed.

It is still unclear whether the GPT Store will launch with any kind of revenue-sharing scheme. Altman and CTO Mira Murati told my colleague Devin Coldewey in November that there was no firm plan for GPT monetization, and the email about the GPT Store’s impending launch makes no mention of what developers can expect in terms of payments — if anything.

According to an OpenAI spokesperson, more information will be released next week.

As I wrote for TechCrunch’s semi-regular AI newsletter a while back, OpenAI’s transition from AI model provider to platform has been interesting — but not entirely unexpected. In March, the startup signaled its ambitions by releasing plug-ins for ChatGPT, its AI-powered chatbot, which brought third parties into OpenAI’s model ecosystem for the first time.

GPTs effectively democratize the creation of generative AI apps — at least for apps that use OpenAI’s model family. In fact, GPTs have the potential to destroy consultancies whose business models revolve around creating what are essentially GPTs for customers.

Is this a positive development? Not necessarily, in my opinion. But we’ll have to wait and see what happens.