OpenAI buys camera startup Glass Imaging for over $300m

OpenAI has completed the acquisition of Glass Imaging, a California-based startup developing artificial intelligence-driven camera technology for smartphones. According to The Wall Street Journal, the transaction exceeded 300 million dollars.

The price tag triples the startup's valuation from its funding round last year, which was estimated at roughly 100 million dollars. Glass Imaging was founded in 2019 by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, two former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone Portrait Mode feature.

Instead of editing images after capture, Glass Imaging uses neural networks trained for each camera system to correct lens aberrations and sensor imperfections the moment a photo is taken. The technology has already been deployed in smartphones from Chinese manufacturer Honor.

OpenAI has not disclosed how it will integrate the startup into its product line. The purchase follows OpenAI's 2025 acquisition of hardware startup io, led by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, for 6.5 billion dollars.