What if OpenAI built a new kind of social network from the ground up for the AI era?
People still want the basic things that made Facebook and MySpace popular: making friends, posting status updates, sharing photos and videos, commenting, joining groups, and keeping up with people they care about.
But many people are frustrated with today’s social-media platforms. They can feel overly controlled by algorithms, advertising, spam, and complicated settings.
I think there is an opportunity for something genuinely different.
Bring back the personal profile
One thing I loved about MySpace was that your profile actually felt like your space. You could customize the appearance, background, colours, music, layout, and personality of your page.
A modern AI-powered platform could bring that idea back. You could even tell the AI something like:
“Make my profile look like a 1980s arcade.”
And the AI could create the design while letting you remain in control.
Keep the things people already like
The platform could still have:
- Friends and followers
- Status updates
- Photos and videos
- Comments and reactions
- Private messaging
- Groups and communities
- Events
- Personal timelines
The difference would be giving the user much more control over how their social experience works.
Make AI the assistant, not the boss
AI could help summarize what your friends have posted, find old photos or posts, organize conversations, help with privacy settings, detect scams and spam, and help moderate communities.
But users should be able to decide what they see rather than having an algorithm constantly deciding for them.
The signature feature: Live Hangouts
Here’s the feature I think could really make the platform different.
Imagine you’re looking at your normal social feed and see that a friend has started an Open Live Hangout.
Instead of sending everyone to a separate Messenger or Zoom-style application, friends could simply tap Join Live and enter a group video conversation.
People could come and go naturally, just like dropping into a friend’s living room.
It could support multiple people, screen sharing, text chat, muting, privacy controls, and optional AI features such as summarizing the conversation afterward.
The traditional social feed would still exist. The live video feature would simply add something new: your social feed could become a place where you actually meet your friends.
The philosophy
I’d build the platform around three ideas:
Connection — Stay connected with the people you care about.
Ownership — Your profile and your social experience belong to you.
Intelligence — AI makes social networking easier without taking control away from you.
The basic idea is:
Your profile is your space. Your feed is yours. Your friends are right there. And AI works for you—not the other way around.
I think healthy competition in social media is good for everyone. People shouldn’t have to choose between platforms that all work essentially the same way. New ideas may be better ideas.
This is just an idea from a user who would genuinely love to see something like this exist. I hope someone at OpenAI—or someone in the technology community—might see the potential