OpenAI creates new unit with $4 billion investment to aid corporate AI push

OpenAI said on Monday it is setting up a new company with more ​than $4 billion in initial investment to help organisations build ‌and deploy artificial intelligence systems, and will ​acquire an AI consulting firm, Tomoro, ⁠to quickly scale up the unit.

After its early models saw strong resonance with consumers, OpenAI has been working ‌aggressively to sign corporate contracts and establish a large presence in the business world ‌where its AI will see large-scale deployment.

The ‌venture, ⁠which will be majority owned and ⁠controlled by OpenAI, also comes as rival Anthropic enjoys strong success in its enterprise AI push with its Claude family ​of models seeing rapid ‌adoption among businesses.

The new firm, called OpenAI Deployment Company, will help the ChatGPT maker embed engineers specialising in frontier AI deployment into organisations ‌that will then work closely with various teams ​to identify where AI can make the biggest impact, OpenAI said.

Its acquisition of ⁠Tomoro, a consulting firm that helps enterprises deploy AI, will bring around 150 experienced AI engineers ‌and “deployment specialists” to the new unit from day one.

Tomoro was formed in 2023 in alliance with OpenAI, and counts companies such as Mattel, Red Bull, Tesco and Virgin Atlantic as its clients, according to its website.

Reuters reported last week ‌that the joint ventures OpenAI and Anthropic separately created ​with private equity firms are in talks to acquire services companies that help businesses deploy ⁠artificial intelligence.

OpenAI’s deployment unit is a multi-year committed partnership ⁠between OpenAI and 19 firms, with the partnership led by TPG, with Advent, ‌Bain Capital, and Brookfield as co-lead founding partners, the ChatGPT maker said.