Following OpenAI's introduction of GPTs, a surge in GPT apps has led to the launch of dedicated LLM app stores. Nevertheless, given its debut, there is a lack of sufficient understanding of this new ecosystem. To fill this gap, this paper presents a first comprehensive longitudinal (5-month) study of the evolution, landscape, and vulnerability of the emerging LLM app ecosystem, focusing on two GPT app stores: \textit{GPTStore.AI} and the official \textit{OpenAI GPT Store}. Specifically, we develop two automated tools and a TriLevel configuration extraction strategy to efficiently gather metadata (\ie names, creators, descriptions, \etc) and user feedback for all GPT apps across these two stores, as well as configurations (\ie system prompts, knowledge files, and APIs) for the top 10,000 popular apps. Our extensive analysis reveals: (1) the user enthusiasm for GPT apps consistently rises, whereas creator interest plateaus within three months of GPTs' launch; (2) nearly 90\% system prompts can be easily accessed due to widespread failure to secure GPT app configurations, leading to considerable plagiarism and duplication among apps. Our findings highlight the necessity of enhancing the LLM app ecosystem by the app stores, creators, and users.

翻译：随着OpenAI推出GPTs，GPT应用激增，催生了专门的LLM应用商店。然而，这一新兴生态系统的初步亮相使其尚未得到充分理解。为填补这一空白，本文首次对新兴LLM应用生态系统的演进历程、生态格局及安全漏洞进行了为期五个月的全面纵向研究，重点关注两个GPT应用商店：\textit{GPTStore.AI}与官方\textit{OpenAI GPT Store}。具体而言，我们开发了两款自动化工具并采用三级配置提取策略，高效采集了这两个商店中所有GPT应用的元数据（即名称、创建者、描述等）与用户反馈，以及最受欢迎的10,000个应用的配置信息（即系统提示词、知识文件与API）。我们的广泛分析表明：（1）用户对GPT应用的热情持续高涨，而创建者的兴趣在GPTs发布三个月后趋于平缓；（2）由于普遍存在GPT应用配置保护缺失，近90%的系统提示词可被轻易获取，导致应用间存在大量抄袭与重复现象。我们的研究结果凸显了应用商店、创建者与用户共同完善LLM应用生态系统的必要性。