What's New: OpenAI will release its new model by December

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Here's what you'll find in this issue:

OpenAI will release its next model, Orion, by December. But the rollout will look much different this time.
There's a shift in the software industry, and we need a new name for this emerging field of products.
$1K MRR from sponsored content. Past failure helped Stefan Savevski become more confident.

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OpenAI will release its new model by December 🤖

According to The Verge, OpenAI plans to release its next flagship model, codenamed Orion, by December.

However, the rollout will be a bit different than OpenAI’s two most recent releases, GPT-4o and o1. Instead of a widespread release through ChatGPT, OpenAI will provide access to Orion for its close allies first, allowing them to build out their own products and features.

Here's what else to know about the upcoming release.

In the news 📰

📱 TikTok doubles down on educational in-feed content.

📈 This SaaS company increased traffic by 3900%. Here's how. #ad

💡 Turn everyday digital data into "A-ha!" market insights.

🧑‍🎨 Over 10K artists sign an open letter protesting unlicensed AI training.

🤔 The 5-5-5 advertising system...or, why "simple" doesn't always sell.

🛍️ Costco gained a cult following by breaking every rule of retail.

The rise of software-delivered services 💻

There is a big shift underway in the software industry. Fast, cheap, and powerful multi-modal models have massively expanded the scope of what's possible with software.

A new breed of AI-powered companies are jumping into the fray to put these capabilities to work. These companies look quite different from the previous generation of SaaS. They sell work, not workflow. They sell outcomes, not tools. It's a whole new type of company, and we need a new name for it.

I propose the name software-delivered services (SDS). Here's what makes them unique.

Indie Hackers Top Products 🏅

Here are the top products that launched on Indie Hackers yesterday:

🥇 Makerpage: Build your maker portfolio.
🥈 AI Video Creator Pro: Generate videos and voiceovers in a few clicks.
🥉 Indie Thinkers: The brightest writers on the internet.

Getting comfortable with another failure by limiting risk 💪

Stefan Savevski is becoming more confident as an indie hacker, thanks to a string of failures.

His last venture, which he worked on for two years, failed when his entire team eventually burned out. But the learnings that he took away from the experience have already helped him in his most recent project, Armor Wallet.

It's pre-revenue, but he's making a living from it.

Let's take a peek at his finances.

Channing's tweet pick 🐦

“Pavement knowledge” beats “paper knowledge” every time. —@channingallen

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Stephen Flanders, Darko Gjorgjievski, Sean Linehan, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing