Highlights:

  • Staff from Global Illuminations will work with OpenAI on its core products, including ChatGPT.
  • This seems to be a talent-driven acquisition unless OpenAI harbors a secret aspiration to venture into the MMORPG gaming sector.

Global Illumination Inc., a small digital business developing “digital products” that offer creativity incentives, has been acquired by OpenAI LP, the organization behind ChatGPT, for an undisclosed sum.

Global Illumination was established in 2021, and according to OpenAI, it has been using AI to create digital experiences, infrastructure, and creative tools.

The company’s team is rumored to have previously designed and built products on Instagram and Facebook in their early stages and significantly contributed to YouTube, Google LLC, Pixar Animation Studios LLC, Riot Games Inc., and other well-known businesses. Staff from Global Illuminations will work with OpenAI on its core products, including ChatGPT.

It’s unclear exactly what those descriptions mean. The company’s website is sparse; it only describes itself as “Global Illumination is a digital product company based in New York most recently working on Biomes.” The open-source sandbox massively multiplayer online role-playing game “Biomes” resembles “Minecraft” and other Roblox Crop games.

This seems to be a talent-driven acquisition unless OpenAI harbors a secret aspiration to venture into the MMORPG gaming sector. In such cases, larger corporations acquire smaller entities primarily for their expertise rather than their existing products or endeavors.

According to Pitchbook, Global Illumination received venture capital backing and raised USD 14 million from backers that included Paradigm Capital LP, Benchmark Capital Corp., and Slow Ventures LLC. Though the purchase price was not made public, it was likely close to the amount the company had previously raised, plus or minus a few million dollars.

This acquisition stands out significantly as OpenAI’s inaugural move since its establishment in 2015. While the possibility of further acquisitions by OpenAI remains speculative, the company’s substantial venture capital funding of USD 11.3 billion, as reported by Crunchbase, positions it well to consider future acquisitions as it sees fit.