Business
OpenAI reportedly buys camera AI startup Glass Imaging for more than $300 million
OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging, a startup that uses neural networks to improve smartphone camera output, for more than $300 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report relayed by TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE. Neither company has publicly confirmed the deal, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to TechCrunch's request for comment.
Glass Imaging was founded in 2019 by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone's Portrait Mode, and is based in Los Altos, California, TechCrunch reported. Rather than editing photos after they are taken, the company trains neural networks on the characteristics of a specific camera module so that image quality improves at capture. SiliconANGLE said its GlassAI software works as a neural image signal processor that merges steps such as noise reduction, sharpening and frame fusion, and that Honor has used it in a smartphone.
The startup had raised roughly $30 million, including a $20 million Series A in May 2025, with Alphabet's GV among its backers. How OpenAI would use the technology is unclear. Both outlets set the reported deal against the company's consumer hardware push, which includes its $6.5 billion purchase of Jony Ive's io in 2025.
Separately, Fortune reported on Sept. 11 that OpenAI had paused new sign-ups and upgrades for its $200-a-month ChatGPT Pro plan, citing heavy demand for its recently launched GPT-6 Astra model.
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