OpenAI Welcomes Team from AI Recommendation Startup Crossing Minds to Enhance Personalization Technologies

OpenAI has announced that it is acquiring the team behind Crossing Minds, a startup known for developing AI recommendation systems for e-commerce businesses. According to Crunchbase, Crossing Minds has raised over $13.5 million in multiple funding rounds, with backing from notable investors such as Index Ventures, Shopify, Plug and Play, and Radical Ventures. Crossing Minds primarily focused on enhancing personalization and recommendation systems for e-commerce platforms. The company’s technology analyzes customer behavior on websites to gain insights into shopping preferences, ensuring user data privacy remains intact. In a post on their website, the co-founders expressed their excitement about joining OpenAI and aligning with its mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. They noted, "We’re thrilled to bring our experience and energy to a team that’s setting the direction for the future of AI." One of the co-founders, Alexandre Robicquet, has already updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new role as a researcher working on post-training and agents at OpenAI. It is unclear if the entire Crossing Minds team will join OpenAI, but the company has stated that it will not be taking on any new clients. Before its acquisition, Crossing Minds had earned the trust of prominent brands such as Intuit, Anthropic, Udacity, and Chanel. This move underscores the growing trend of AI companies investing in e-commerce tools to enhance user experiences. For example, Google and Perplexity have recently introduced AI-powered recommendation features, and startups like Daydream have secured significant investments to develop AI shopping assistants. Earlier this year, OpenAI updated ChatGPT to include capabilities for recommending products, generating images, and providing reviews based on user queries. The addition of the Crossing Minds team is expected to further strengthen OpenAI’s offerings in this area, contributing to the development of more sophisticated and user-friendly AI applications. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the acquisition. However, the move indicates a strategic focus on integrating advanced recommendation technologies into its broader AI initiatives, as the company continues to compete in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.