Apps vs. Connectors: In-Thread UI and Transactions

Beth Lyons and Andy Halliday opened the October 7th episode with a discussion on OpenAI’s Dev Day announcements. The team broke down new updates like the Agent Kit, Chat Kit, and Apps SDK, explored their implications for enterprise users, and debated how fast traditional businesses can adapt to the pace of AI innovation.

OpenAI’s Dev Day recap highlighted the new Agent Kit, which includes Agent Builder, Chat Kit, and Apps SDK. The updates bring live app integrations into ChatGPT, allowing direct use of tools like Canva, Spotify, Zillow, Coursera, and Booking.com.

Andy noted that these features are enterprise-focused for now, enabling organizations to create agent workflows with evaluation and reinforcement loops for better reliability.

The hosts discussed the App SDK and connectors, explaining how they differ. Apps add interactive UI experiences inside ChatGPT, while connectors pull or push data from external systems.

Carl shared how apps like Canva or Notion work inside ChatGPT but questioned which tools make sense to embed versus use natively, emphasizing that utility depends on context.

A new mobile discovery revealed that users can now drag and drop videos into the iOS ChatGPT app for audio transcription and video description directly in the thread.

The team covered Anthropic’s partnership with Deloitte, rolling out Claude to 470,000 employees globally—an ironic twist after Deloitte’s earlier $440K refund to the Australian government over an AI-generated report error.

Carl raised a “hot topic” on AI adoption speed, explaining how enterprise security, IT processes, and legacy systems slow down innovation despite clear productivity benefits.

The discussion explored why companies struggle to run AI pilots effectively and how traditional change management models cannot keep pace with AI’s speed of evolution.

Beth and Carl emphasized that real transformation requires AI-centric workflows, not just automation layered on top of outdated systems.

Andy reflected on how leadership and systems analysts used to drive change but said the next era will rely on machine-driven process optimization, guided by AI rather than human consultants.

The hosts closed by showcasing Sora’s new prompting guide and Beth’s creative product video experiments, including her “Frog on a Log” ad campaign inspired by OpenAI’s new product video examples.

Timestamps & Topics

00:00:00 💡 Welcome and Dev Day recap intro

00:02:19 🧠 Agent Kit and enterprise workflow reliability

00:04:08 ⚙️ Chat Kit, Apps SDK, and live demo integration

00:06:12 🌍 Partner apps: Expedia, Booking, Canva, Coursera, Spotify

00:08:10 💬 App SDK vs connectors explained

00:12:00 🎨 Canva and Notion inside ChatGPT: real value or novelty?

00:16:07 📱 New iOS feature: drag and drop video for transcription

00:19:18 🤝 Anthropic’s deal with Deloitte and industry reactions

00:20:08 💼 Deloitte’s redemption after AI report controversy

00:21:26 🔥 Hot Topic: enterprise AI adoption speed

00:25:17 🧩 Legacy security vs AI transformation challenges

00:28:20 🧱 Why most AI pilots fail in corporate settings

00:29:39 🧮 Sandboxes, test environments, and workforce transition

00:31:26 ⚡ Building AI-first business processes from scratch

00:33:38 🏗️ Full-stack AI companies vs legacy enterprises

00:36:49 🧠 Human behavior, habits, and change resistance

00:38:40 👔 How companies traditionally manage transformation

00:40:56 🧭 Moving from consultants to AI-driven system design

00:42:42 💰 Annual budgets, procurement cycles, and AI agility

00:44:15 🚫 Why long-term tool contracts are now a liability

00:45:05 🎬 Tool share: Sora API and prompting guide demo

00:47:37 🧸 Beth’s “Frog on a Log” and AI product ad experiments

00:50:54 🧵 Custom narration and combining Nano Banana + Sora

00:52:17 🚀 Higgs Field’s watermark-free Sora and creative tools

00:53:16 🎙️ Wrap up and new show format reminder