OpenAI’s October Takeover

PLUS: OpenAI rumored to launch “Agent Builder” today

Author

Barsee
06 Oct

Together with

Howdy, it’s Barsee.

Happy Monday, AI family, and welcome to another AI Valley edition. This issue takes 5 minutes to read.

Today’s climb through the Valley reveals:

  • Sora 2 and Sora app go live and mainstream

  • OpenAI adds shopping to ChatGPT with Instant Checkout

  • OpenAI rumored to launch “Agent Builder” today at 1 PM ET

  • Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources

Let’s dive into the Valley of AI…

TAPLIO

Image Credit: Taplio

The fastest way to grow on LinkedIn? A shortcut that actually works.

With Taplio, you can:

  • ✅ Get a curated feed of the best posts in your niche

  • 💬 Use AI-powered Smart Replies to comment faster & smarter

  • 🚀 Turn daily engagement into visibility, trust, and pipeline

"Taplio is how I’ve grown by over 30,000 followers on LinkedIn. I highly recommend it." - Amanda Goetz, LinkedIn Creator (80k newsletter subs, $400,000 generated on LinkedIn)

*This is sponsored

THROUGH THE VALLEY

OpenAI’s October Takeover

OpenAI has entered October 2025 in full sprint. In just a few days, it launched a viral video app, introduced a new way to shop inside ChatGPT, hit a historic valuation, and is gearing up for a major developer reveal that could redefine how AI tools are built.

Image Credit: OpenAI

OpenAI’s long-teased Sora 2 model and companion Sora app are officially out, and they’ve exploded in popularity. Within 48 hours, the iOS-only app climbed to #1 on the U.S. App Store.

Sora 2 generates ultra-realistic video with synchronized speech and is more physically accurate and controllable than anything we have seen before.

The new Sora app is built for creation and consumption. Users can create, remix, and share clips, as well as like, comment, and follow others, just like any major network, except every piece of content is born from AI. Its release comes right on the heels of Meta’s Vibes launch last week, setting up what could be the first real showdown in the race for AI-native social media.

[Here’s how people are already experimenting with Sora 2.]

Right now, Sora is invite-only, available to iOS users in the U.S. and Canada, with a gradual global rollout ahead. Despite the friction, Sora 2 feels like the first real test of whether AI-native entertainment can go mainstream.

Gif Credit: OpenAI

A quieter but equally big shift: OpenAI has started rolling out Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT.

The feature, powered by Stripe and the open-source Agentic Commerce Protocol, lets users in the U.S. buy directly from Etsy sellers through chat (no external links, no checkout pages). Shopify merchants, including brands like SKIMS, Glossier, and Vuori, are next.

At launch, users can purchase one item per order; multi-item carts and international expansion are on the roadmap. Payments flow through merchants’ own systems, with ChatGPT acting only as a secure intermediary.

Image Credit: OpenAI

It’s the first glimpse of agentic commerce, where AI not only recommends products but completes the transaction. For users, that means one-tap convenience. For merchants, it’s a new way to reach ChatGPT’s hundreds of millions of weekly users without surrendering data or control.

Image Credit: Testing Catalogue

Next up: Agent Builder, the most talked-about unannounced tool in OpenAI’s lineup, is widely expected to debut today at 1 PM ET on DevDay 2025.

Leaks suggest a visual, drag-and-drop interface for building AI workflows (connecting modular “nodes” for logic, approvals, file search, or data operations, much like Zapier or n8n, but with direct OpenAI model access).

If accurate, Agent Builder will make creating autonomous agents dramatically easier, building on OpenAI’s recent developer tools for responses, function calling, and web-enabled agents. While OpenAI hasn’t confirmed anything yet, all signs point to a reveal designed to bring non-coders into the agent-building world.

Image Credit: Crunchbase

OpenAI confirmed a $6.6 billion secondary share sale, valuing the company at $500 billion. Investors include SoftBank, Thrive Capital, Dragoneer, T. Rowe Price, and MGX. The deal makes OpenAI the most valuable private company in the world, overtaking SpaceX and ByteDance.

The sale was designed to let employees cash out some equity (a retention play in an increasingly competitive AI talent market). Despite still being unprofitable, OpenAI’s valuation shows how confident investors are in the long-term upside of generative AI.

Why does it matter?

Taken together, OpenAI’s October run tells a clear story of ambition:

  • Sora 2 turns AI video into a social, remixable experience.

  • Instant Checkout transforms ChatGPT into a commerce platform.

  • Agent Builder (if confirmed) could make automation visual and accessible.

  • And a $500 billion valuation cements OpenAI’s dominance and the market’s faith that AI is only getting started.

OpenAI isn’t just shipping models anymore. It’s building the scaffolding for how people will create, shop, and work with AI. The question now isn’t whether OpenAI can build great tech, it’s whether the world is ready to live inside it.

TRENDING TOOLS

  • Sora 2 > OpenAI’s next-gen video model creates more realistic, physically accurate footage with greater creative control

  • Kerns > Turns books, papers, and links into interactive knowledge maps. It reads, summarizes, and continues researching in the background to help you synthesize ideas faster

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash Image > Google’s image generation model is now generally available, bringing fast and high-quality visuals to everyone

  • Mosaic > An agentic AI video editor built for creators. Ideate, iterate, and publish your videos with intelligent assistance (now in beta)

  • Mem 2.0 > Your personal AI thought partner that captures ideas, connects them, and resurfaces insights through a smart notes app

THINK PIECES / BRAIN BOOST

Image Credit: OneUsefulThing

THE VALLEY GEMS

What’s trending on social today:

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

Thank you for reading today’s edition. That’s all for today’s issue.

💡 Help me get better and suggest new ideas at [email protected] or @heyBarsee

👍️ New reader? Subscribe here

Thanks for being here.

REACH 100K+ READERS

Acquire new customers and drive revenue by partnering with us

Sponsor AI Valley and reach over 100,000+ entrepreneurs, founders, software engineers, investors, etc.

If you’re interested in sponsoring us, email [email protected] with the subject “AI Valley Ads”.