OpenAI may be moving from selling artificial intelligence tools to buying the people who can make them work inside large companies.
The ChatGPT maker’s new joint venture with private equity investors is in advanced talks on three acquisitions of services companies that help businesses deploy AI, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Anthropic, OpenAI’s chief rival in enterprise AI, is pursuing a similar path through its own private equity-backed venture, Reuters said. Both companies declined to comment to Reuters.
The goal is straightforward: acquire engineering and consulting capacity at scale.
Reuters said OpenAI and Anthropic are looking to bring in hundreds of engineers and consultants who can help companies connect AI models to their data, workflows and internal systems. OpenAI is raising roughly $4 billion from 19 investors, including TPG, Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management, for a vehicle called The Deployment Company, according to the report. Anthropic is raising $1.5 billion from investors including Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs, The Wall Street Journal reported, as cited by Reuters.
The deals would widen the AI race beyond bigger models and cheaper computing. For banks, payment firms and retailers, the hard part is often not getting access to AI. It is making the technology useful in daily operations without breaking compliance, security or customer experience standards. That requires people who understand both the technology and the business process it is meant to improve.
Reuters framed the move as a sign of a growing tension in enterprise AI. The industry is often described as a high-margin software market, but real adoption still depends on skilled, hands-on services. Companies need help tailoring models to their own data, systems and workflows, and then adjusting those tools as business needs change.
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Reuters quoted Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray as saying the push could “break down one of the most significant bottlenecks to enterprise AI adoption.” The model also echoes Palantir’s approach of embedding engineers inside customer operations, Reuters noted, and could lead to consolidation among smaller consulting and IT services firms.
PYMNTS has been tracking OpenAI’s push deeper into enterprise, finance and commerce. Recent coverage includes its reported $4 billion raise for The Deployment Company, its partnership with PwC for finance teams, Customers Bank’s plan to use OpenAI across commercial banking operations, and OpenAI’s shift toward brand-owned ChatGPT apps instead of direct checkout inside ChatGPT.
