My Views on OpenAI’s certifications and Jobs Platform

In a recent announcement coinciding with the opening of its Australian office, OpenAI unveiled two significant new initiatives: an OpenAI Jobs Platform and a corresponding OpenAI Certifications program. 

The company frames these moves as a direct response to the widespread perceptions about AI's impact on employment, positioning itself as a solution to the very problem it is perceived to have created. The stated goal is to "unlock more opportunities for more people" by helping individuals become "fluent in AI" and connecting them with employers who need their skills. 

The plan includes certifying 10 million Americans by 2030 (don’t worry about the rest of the world :), with launch partners like Walmart already on board to upskill their workforce. The jobs platform is promised to be more than just a site for big companies, with a dedicated focus on helping small businesses and local governments find talent.

These initiatives are, on the surface, a logical extension of OpenAI's mission to democratise AI. They speak to a perceived need in the market: a trusted standard for AI skills and a dedicated marketplace to match that talent with demand. However, a critical look at the announcement reveals that these moves are less about genuine disruption and more about a calculated, and expansion into the corporate training and recruitment space.

AI Certifications: PR Move?

OpenAI's foray into certifications isn't a bold new step; it's a playbook as old as enterprise software itself. The concept of certifications as a way to control the supply and flow of skilled labor is not new. 

From Microsoft's various certifications to the expansive course offerings from Salesforce, Adobe, and Workday, this is a well-established business model. These programs often serve a dual purpose: they generate revenue and create a captive talent pool fluent in a company's specific product ecosystem.

In this light, OpenAI’s certification program is less a philanthropic effort to empower workers and more a strategic business play to lock in the next generation of knowledge workers to their specific platform.

Particularly in the context of global fears about job displacement due to AI, this also feels like a calculated PR stunt. It's a way for OpenAI to publicly address a major concern it has helped to create, positioning itself as the force providing a lifeline to an anxious workforce. 

The narrative is powerful: "We're not here to take your jobs, we're here to help you get new ones." But what is an "AI-savvy" certification, really? Given the rapid pace of AI development, any specific certification (particularly one focused on prompt engineering) will likely be outdated in a matter of months.

A skill that is a hot commodity today could be a feature-by-default in a future model, rendering the certification moot. The real value of an AI worker isn't in their ability to use a specific tool but in their ability to adapt and think critically, qualities that no certification can truly measure.

Jobs on the internet moving to AI: If it walks like a duck…

The jobs platform is another aspect that, while presented as revolutionary, is simply an iteration of an old promise. The idea of an AI-powered job board that "perfectly matches" candidates with opportunities is the holy grail that countless platforms have chased and failed to capture.

We've seen a graveyard of such efforts: MySpace, Simply Hired, HotJobs, Facebook Jobs, and even Twitter Jobs all attempted to leverage their massive user bases to disrupt the recruitment industry, and all were met with limited success.

Why? Because a jobs board, no matter how "smart," is just a classifieds site. It's a passive tool for advertising, not a genuine connector of talent and opportunity. Recruitment is a complex, multi-faceted process that involves sourcing, screening, interviewing, and negotiating.

It's a business of relationships, not algorithms. OpenAI's platform will likely be fed by the same sources that dominate other job boards: recruitment agencies and large corporations with significant hiring needs and budgets.

While OpenAI promises a track for small businesses and governments, it's hard to imagine these entities finding a signal through the noise of what will inevitably become another digital billboard for major employers.

OpenAI is stepping into a market dominated by entrenched players like LinkedIn and a vast ecosystem of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The company faces the "Slack Fallacy," a term coined by HR tech pundit Thomas Otter, where a horizontal vendor enters a specialized application space, only to realize the complexities are far greater than they anticipated. 

LinkedIn, owned by OpenAI's biggest backer, Microsoft, has a massive, integrated network effect. Why would companies and candidates abandon a trusted, integrated platform for a new entrant whose primary expertise is not in recruitment? The jobs platform will not be the "one-stop-shop" it's advertised to be; it will simply be another recruitment channel, one that will quickly be put on the fold.

A Pundit’s Perspective from Australia

This entire announcement lands with a unique flavor in Australia, particularly with OpenAI's new office opening in Sydney. Is this marking the start of a new era of AI-driven innovation down under? Probably not. It's a strategic beachhead in a key English-speaking market with a sophisticated tech ecosystem.

The move is about sales, support, and public relations, not a massive cultural or economic shift. From an Australian perspective, the promises of the jobs platform and certifications feel disconnected from the ground reality.

The local market is already grappling with the implications of AI, and the idea that a new certification from an American company will somehow solve our unique workforce challenges is a stretch. It feels like a top-down solution to a problem that requires a nuanced, local approach.

In the end, while the announcement from OpenAI is a robust corporate message, it’s not the game-changing move it purports to be. The certifications will join the ranks of thousands of other corporate credentials, and the jobs platform will likely be another contender in the highly saturated and competitive recruitment advertising market.

We will not be talking about this jobs platform in 12/18 months.