I’m a solo indie dev who has been building small AI-video tools for the past year. This week, I shipped… probably my strangest project so far:
a Sora 3 site — even though Sora 3 doesn’t exist yet. Project: sora3ai.io
To be clear: I don’t have access to Sora 3. No one does. It hasn’t launched.
All I did was build the interface, the workflows, and the “shell” around what I think people will want once it comes out. It’s basically a speculative product — like building a case before the phone is released.
Why did I do this?
A few reasons, none of which I feel fully confident about:
1. The ecosystem is moving faster than the models themselves.
Users already search for “sora 3 generator”, so wrappers appear before the actual API.
2. Indie developers don’t get access early, so building in advance feels like the only way to stay alive.
Otherwise, by the time APIs open, the big players have already taken the top 10 Google spots.
3. I’m trying to figure out whether “being early” actually matters — or whether this is all pointless.
My Sora 2 site got traffic but weak conversion. My storyboard generator had interest but little retention. Being early didn’t lead to product-market fit.
4. Is this ethical? Is it stupid? Or is it just how the AI ecosystem works now?
I genuinely don’t know.
Some questions I’d love to hear thoughts on:
* Is it reasonable to build tools for models that aren’t released yet?
* Does this create user confusion, or is it harmless speculation?
* As a solo dev, is “being the first wrapper” actually a viable strategy?
* Or is this whole AI-tools race destined to be a zero-margin commodity market?
I’m not trying to promote the site — it barely does anything yet. I’m more interested in whether this kind of “pre-emptive product building” is smart, predatory, or just inevitable.
Curious how people here think about this trend. Happy to share data, mistakes, or the weird SEO patterns I’ve been seeing.
— A slightly confused solo founder trying to keep up with a model that hasn’t shipped
kelly99•37m ago