Context.ai Co-Founders Join OpenAI

OpenAI has hired the co-founders of Context.ai, a startup specialising in analytics and evaluations for AI models. The move was confirmed on Tuesday, with Context.ai announcing that it will shut down its products following the acqui-hire.

“We spent two years building evals and analytics for LLMs at Context.ai with a few pivots along the way! Alex and I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter of our journey at OpenAI and are enormously grateful to everyone who played a part in the adventure,” said Henry Scott-Green, former Context.ai CEO. 

The company’s official website also redirects to a similar note. 

“Evals are a requirement for building high-performing AI applications, but they’re hard to get right today. We are thrilled to be joining the OpenAI team to help build the tools developers need to succeed,” the website reads.

Launched in 2023, TechCrunch reported that the company raised a $3.5 million seed investment to fully develop the idea. They launched the company to understand how users are interacting with their LLMs. The investment was led by Google’s venture arm, GV, and Theory Ventures.

The move is part of a wider push by OpenAI to grow its expertise across both software and hardware, following a string of strategic hires and acquisition talks.Earlier this month,  The Information reported that OpenAI was in talks to acquire the AI hardware startup being developed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive in collaboration with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to the report, OpenAI may spend around $500 million to acquire the nascent company, io Products.