JOIN queries, OpenAI, ChatGPT

OpenAI is broadening its partnership with Bain & Co. to sell its AI tools, including ChatGPT, to the consultancy’s clients in what proves a boon to business sales.

Under the agreement, reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, Bain and OpenAI will collaborate on solutions for the retail and life sciences, with plans to extend to more industries. The consultancy is devoting about 50 employees to the joint effort, but declined to provide financial terms of the partnership.

The accord builds on an agreement last year in which the companies established a global services alliance to make Bain’s clients aware of OpenAI’s technology, and to make ChatGPT Enterprise available to its 13,000 employees worldwide. Additionally, Bain is investing in the creation of an OpenAI Center of Excellence, which will be led by a team at the Boston-based consultancy.

The deal is likely to jumpstart OpenAI’s sales into businesses, many of whom have not graduated beyond experimenting with AI. Combined, the companies hope to reach industries which require customized solutions instead of an off-the-shelf version of ChatGPT.

Bain Chief Executive Christophe De Vusser told the Journal. “Corporate technology leaders are now asking whether their private data is ready to use with AI, and what results they can get out of their AI investments,” Bain Chief Executive Christophe De Vusser told the Journal.

De Vusser explained Bain and OpenAI are already working with drugmaker Amgen to automate the creation of documents, as well as developing retail solutions such as AI-based shelf and space planning tools to augment the forecasting, planning and pricing of goods, according to the Journal’s report.

In all, Bain has worked with hundreds of clients on OpenAI, he added.

Some 30% of Bain’s revenue is AI- and tech-related, with that figure expected to reach 50% within several years.

For OpenAI, which is hurtling toward a potential initial public offering, a boost in sales would burnish its debut as a publicly-traded company. Though the company says it has 1 million paying customers of ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu, a product for universities, the influence of Bain would raise that number (and size of sales) even higher. In April, OpenAI said it had 600,000 paying users.

For now, OpenAI has not developed its own industry-specific products besides ChatGPT Edu, which has similar controls to ChatGPT Enterprise.

TECHSTRONG TV

Click full-screen to enable volume control
Watch latest episodes and shows

AppDev Field Day 2

TECHSTRONG AI PODCAST

SHARE THIS STORY