OpenAI DevDay 2026 live blog
Simon Willison’s Weblog Simon Willison ● Covered by 11 sources
OpenAI’s DevDay is underway in San Francisco, and Simon Willison is live-blogging it. He also built a photo tool on his phone for the trip, then had to switch coding tools when one failed.
Based on reporting by Simon Willison’s Weblog, Simon Willison — read the original for the full story.
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Simon Willison is at OpenAI DevDay today at Fort Mason in San Francisco, doing the same live blog he did last year. OpenAI gave him a free ticket and a seat in the creator area for the keynote, so this is not some distant observer’s report. It’s a front-row account, with the usual mix of notes, timing, and the odd logistical detail that makes live coverage feel immediate instead of polished after the fact.
Before the keynote started, he was already testing his setup. He says he built a system for adding photos to the live blog more easily, and he did it on his phone on the way to the venue. The original plan was to use Codex Cloud for that, but he hit problems and moved over to Claude Code for web instead. Small detail, big signal: even people covering the AI industry are now using AI tools as part of the plumbing of their work, and they’re still running into the rough edges.
At 10:01, Sam Altman took the stage and welcomed everyone to DevDay. His promise was simple: “our best DevDay yet.” That’s keynote language doing keynote language things, but it sets the tone for the day. The real story from here is whether OpenAI can back that line up with something more than stagecraft and a bigger slogan.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the part people keep missing: the AI industry has started eating its own workflow, and it still can’t quite digest it cleanly. A phone-built tool, a fallback to another coding product, and a keynote promising greatness — that’s the whole era in miniature. The hype machine is loud; the plumbing is still held together with second choices.
Read more about this at: Simon Willison’s Weblog