OpenAI, the company responsible for the increasingly popular ChatGPT chatbot, may spin up an “app store” for A.I. models.

“Creating such an app store also could be a hedge against a future where no A.I. model dominates,” read The Information article that revealed the potential initiative. “It’s not clear whether OpenAI would charge commissions on those sales or otherwise look to generate revenue from the marketplace.”

An OpenAI spokesperson claimed the company isn’t engaged in “active efforts” to spin up an A.I. model marketplace. However, companies such as Khan Academy are actively exploring ways to make their ChatGPT-powered chatbots available to the public via a storefront or portal of some kind. Meanwhile, companies like Salesforce are also figuring out how to sell A.I. products tailored to their platforms.

For developers interested in the potential of A.I., the rise of A.I. “app stores” could provide a new venue for selling tools and products. Should that concept take off, there’s every possibility that we’ll see the emergence of increasingly specialized A.I. tools and services, some of which might target very specific subindustries.

In the meantime, developers and engineers are interested in how A.I. tools could potentially make their workflows more efficient. According to Stack Overflow’s latest Developer Survey, which queried 89,184 developers from 185 countries, 77 percent of developers and engineers have either a favorable or very favorable opinion of A.I. tools. Nearly a third (32.8 percent) think these tools could boost their productivity, while 25 percent believe it’ll speed up their learning.

The rise of A.I. tools could potentially free up tech professionals’ time and attention to focus on other, higher-level tasks, such as coming up with new features and services. While the rise of automation will surely eliminate some jobs, it could open up brand new markets and roles… including prompt engineer and, perhaps, A.I. app store manager.