OpenAI Acquires Team from Shopify-Backed AI Startup Crossing Minds

OpenAI has acquired Crossing Minds Inc., a venture-backed AI startup, although financial terms were not disclosed. Crossing Minds, founded in 2016 by notable AI researcher Sebastian Thrun and co-founders Emile Contal and Alexandre Robicquet, raised over $13 million from investors like Shopify and Index Ventures. The startup specialized in an AI-driven product recommendation system for online retailers, utilizing unique neural networks and custom gradient descent techniques. Robicquet will take on a research role at OpenAI, focusing on AI agents and post-training processes, crucial for enhancing model output quality. While it’s uncertain how many other Crossing Minds team members will join OpenAI or if its technology will be integrated into OpenAI products, this acquisition marks the latest in a series of OpenAI’s strategic moves, following recent purchases including Jony Ive’s io Products Inc. and Windsurf Inc.

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