Artificial intelligence company OpenAI has acquired New York-based startup Global Illumination. This marks the ChatGPT maker’s first public acquisition in its nearly seven-year history.
Global Illumination’s newest project is Biomes, an open-source online multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) similar to Minecraft and designed to be played on the web. While the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, it’s a big move by OpenAl to delve into the video games and metaverse space.
“We’re very excited for the impact they’ll have here at OpenAI,” OpenAI wrote in a brief post on its official blog. “The entire team has joined OpenAI to work on our core products including ChatGPT.”
Global Illumination was founded by Thomas Dimson, Taylor Gordon, and Joey Flynn and has been engaged in various projects since it started in 2021. With support from VC companies Paradigm, Benchmark, and Slow, the team initially created products for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Pixar, and Riot Games.
OpenAI might not have pursued acquisitions up to this point, but with substantial venture capital support from Microsoft and other major VC firms, the company has been running funds and grant initiatives aimed at investing in emerging AI companies and organisations.
Despite ChatGPT gaining widespread recognition early on, The Information reports that OpenAI spent over $540 million last year to develop the chatbot. This amount included expenses for attracting skilled individuals from companies like Google.
Although the GPT-4 company generated $30 million in revenue last year, CEO Sam Altman informed investors about the company’s plans to increase that amount to $200 million this year and amass $1 billion in 2024.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
