OpenAI ramps up enterprise AI push with new consultancy launch

OpenAI is making a play for enterprise business by setting up its own consultancy to help organizations roll out AI.

The new OpenAI Deployment Company will support engineers specializing in frontier AI deployment – known as Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) – who can work directly with organizations integrating the technology to speed up the process.

"These FDEs will work closely with business leaders, operators, and frontline teams to identify where AI can make the biggest impact, redesign organizational infrastructure and critical workflows around it, and turn those gains into durable systems," OpenAI said in a blog post.

The move by OpenAI comes as it targets deeper ties with business customers. Last month, the AI developer revealed that enterprise business now makes up 40% of its revenue, and would reach half by the end of this year – key for the company as it chases new sources of income.

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Denise Dresser, chief revenue officer at OpenAI, said that AI is increasingly capable of actually doing meaningful work.

"The challenge now is helping companies integrate these systems into the infrastructure and workflows that power their businesses," she said in a statement.

"DeployCo is designed to help organizations bridge that gap and turn AI capability into real operational impact."

How OpenAI’s new consultancy will work

According to OpenAI, the consultancy will start with a "focused diagnostic" to find out where AI can bring the most value, selecting priority workflows to rethink with input from leadership and employees.

Speaking to CNBC ahead of the launch, Dresser said the ultimate aim here is to offer a helping hand to enterprises and streamline adoption – an issue many have struggled with over the last three years.

"Think about the complex workflows, about how you actually build a product service, a product market, a product, and this structure of this company is going to allow us to do that at speed and scale," she told CNBC.

FDEs will be embedded within companies to understand how the organization works, helping to design, build, test and deploy AI in their workflows in a reliable way that works with existing business processes.

"Forward-deployed engineers can sit with an organization, sit with their users, understand the workflow, and then help them take that capability from their back-office applications, connecting it to the model, and then really building intelligence in terms of each of the workflow," Dresser told CNBC.

Acquisition of Tomoro

As part of the launch, OpenAI has acquired AI consultancy and engineering firm Tomoro, which includes 150 FDEs and has previously worked for Tesco, Virgin Atlantic, and Supercell.

The new company will partner with 19 additional investment firms, consultancies and system integrators, including TPG, Advent, Bain Capital, and Brookfield, with £4 billion in investment from Capgemini, McKinsey, and more.

OpenAI holds a majority stake, in order to give customers a "unified experience" whether they work directly with OpenAI or the deployment company.

The OpenAI Deployment Company will operate as a standalone business unit to help meet corporate pace and requirements, but will remain an extension of OpenAI to ensure customers have access to the latest research – and know what's coming next.

"The OpenAI Deployment Company FDEs will be able to build for where OpenAI’s frontier capabilities are headed, giving customers systems designed to improve as new models, tools, and deployment patterns come online," the blog post added.

"Customers can move faster from day one, spend capital on durable systems, and stay ahead of competitors by building around the capabilities that are coming next."

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