OPENAI ACQUIRES SMARTPHONE CAMERA STARTUP GLASS IMAGING

OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging, a California-based startup that builds AI camera software, in a deal worth more than $300 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Glass Imaging, founded in Los Altos in 2019, had previously raised about $30 million from investors. It was founded by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, former Apple engineers who developed the iPhone's Portrait Mode feature. The company says its software uses neural networks to improve image quality as each photograph is taken, rather than editing it afterwards, boosting performance by up to ten times.

News of the deal comes amid speculation that OpenAI is developing an AI-powered device with designer Jony Ive, expected to launch next year. OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, has called the device "the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen." In a promotional video, Ive said the device could counter harmful effects of smartphones, describing technology as "on the brink of a new generation" that could "make us our better selves." According to a leaked internal call, Altman said the device would not be worn on the body, but would rest in a pocket or on a desk while "fully aware of a user's surroundings and life."

Altman reportedly told staff the device could add $1 trillion to OpenAI's value. The acquisition adds camera hardware and imaging expertise to OpenAI as it works with Ive's studio on the device. Reports noted that Attar and Bishop's earlier work on Portrait Mode is relevant to overcoming smartphone camera hardware's physical size limits. No launch date beyond "next year" has been confirmed, and neither company has issued a public statement on the terms of the acquisition.