TechCrunch, citing the Wall Street Journal, says OpenAI quietly bought Glass Imaging, a Los Altos camera startup valued at more than 300 million dollars. Ctech names founders Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop as former Apple engineers behind Portrait Mode. OpenAI did not comment. Neither report says which product the cameras would join.
TechCrunch reports that OpenAI bought Glass Imaging after the Wall Street Journal described a deal valuing the company at more than 300 million dollars. The 2019 Los Altos startup had previously raised about 30 million dollars. Glass Imaging trains neural networks on individual camera systems so the image is improved when the shutter fires, rather than by editing a photo afterwards. OpenAI did not immediately comment.[1]
Ctech identifies Glass Imaging as an Israeli-founded startup whose founders, Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, are former Apple engineers. Attar and Bishop had led the team behind Portrait Mode. Ctech says the company developed technology for smartphones, drones and wearables. That hardware range is Ctech's account; TechCrunch does not name drones or wearables.[2]
Earlier reports that OpenAI is working on consumer hardware with Jony Ive do not say which product these cameras would join, TechCrunch notes. OpenAI's silence leaves the commercial destination unset. Ctech likewise does not attach the acquisition to a named device. The dollar figure and the founders' Apple camera past are what both outlets stated.[1], [2]
