Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 14
OpenAI Buys Glass Imaging for Over $300 Million as Hardware Push Expands
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 14

OpenAI Buys Glass Imaging for Over $300 Million as Hardware Push Expands

3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 14

Summary

  • More than $300 million bought OpenAI smartphone camera startup Glass Imaging, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding imaging technology to the ChatGPT maker’s growing device ambitions.
  • Glass Imaging, founded in 2019 in Los Altos, uses neural networks tuned to specific camera systems to improve photos at capture, aiming to offset the physical limits of small smartphone sensors.
  • Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop — former Apple engineers who helped develop Portrait Mode — founded the company, which had previously raised about $30 million from investors.
  • The deal fits broader signs OpenAI is building hardware beyond software; Sam Altman and Jony Ive last year disclosed their io device venture before OpenAI bought Ive’s company for $6.5 billion.

Insights

Why did OpenAI secretly drop $300 million on a smartphone camera startup when they do not even sell phones yet?
Will OpenAI’s multi-billion dollar gamble on former Apple engineers finally break the smartphone monopoly with a revolutionary new device?
Could a tiny AI network completely replace physical camera lenses and redefine how future smart devices see the world?