Brand Name Recognition
"Based on my recent experience with roughly two dozen clients, companies base their selection of an AI platform primarily on 1.) name brand recommendation, 2.) strategic partnerships, and 3.) platform developer resources and loyalty. The other four factors have significantly less impact on the platform selection process."

"It's reasonable to say that the OpenAI ChatGPT application shocked the world when it was released in late 2022," McCaffrey continued. "OpenAI immediately established brand name recognition. Many company decision-makers effectively base their decision to use the OPenAI platform based on that brand name recognition, and essentially rationalize all the other decision criteria.

"Years ago, a common phrase was, 'Nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM' meaning that picking an industry brand name recognition leader was a low--risk choice. That sentiment still exists. The circular logic goes that a brand name leader must be good, which leads to increased market share which leads to increased brand name recognition."

Platform Strategic Partnerships
"Platform strategic partnerships is often the second most important decision criterion. Based on my experience, specifically, companies who are closely tied to the Microsoft Azure platform, are much more likely to pick OpenAI because of the close technical ties between the two."

"Companies that don't use Azure, or have limited dependence on it, are much more likely to give strong consideration to Google Gemini, Meta LLaMA, and Anthropic Claude, and lesser-known platforms such as Mistral and DeepSeek."

Developer Resources and Loyalty
"When the technical leaders of a company are involved in selecting an AI platform, the developer loyalty factor becomes extremely important. In part because OpenAI was essentially first-to-market, OpenAI has by far the most extensive set of code examples available, both through the OpenAI documentation pages, and video sources like YouTube."

"Because AI platforms are evolving with incredible speed, good documentation and examples are absolutely essential for engineers when developing AI systems. From a technical point of view, developer resources usually trump all other technical factors, including speed, innovation, and reputation."

Risks to OpenAI
McCaffrey, noted, "As long as OpenAI maintains its leadership position with regards to brand name recognition, strategic partnerships, and developer resources, the OpenAI platform will likely remain the platform of choice for most companies, at least companies of the types I consult with."

"The OpenAI brand name recognition will remain solid. The only likely influence could be a significant technical breakthrough by a competitor, which would lead to its widespread usage. I think this scenario is possible but unlikely."

"I have limited information about strategic business partner relationships, but I suspect they are subject to change. For example, even though OpenAI and Microsoft Azure have a strong relationship, the relationship could evaporate overnight as the result of some sort of lawsuit. Neither company has an unblemished record of business integrity."

McCaffrey concluded, "In my opinion, the current biggest risk to OpenAI is a degradation of developer resources. Right now, OpenAI has good, but not great, documentation and examples. In the past, time and time again, I've seen examples of companies that get complacent with regards to developer relations, which erodes developer loyalty very quickly. If a competitor reaches a critical mass of superior developer resources, companies will be strongly tempted to jump to an easier-to-use platform very quickly."