With its latest acqui-hire, OpenAI is doubling down on personalized consumer AI | TechCrunch
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI acquired the AI-powered personal finance app Roi.
- Only Roi's CEO and co-founder, Sujith Vishwajith, is joining OpenAI in this acqui-hire.
- Roi will cease operations and end service for its customers on October 15th.
- The acquisition aligns with OpenAI's strategy to focus on personalization and life management in its consumer applications.
- Roi specialized in aggregating diverse financial assets and providing highly personalized, adaptive AI companionship to users.
OpenAI has acquired the AI-powered personal finance app Roi, marking the latest in a series of acqui-hires for the company, including Context.ai and Crossing Minds. The deal involves only Roi's CEO and co-founder, Sujith Vishwajith, joining OpenAI, while the startup will wind down services for its customers on October 15th. Roi specialized in aggregating a user’s entire financial footprint—stocks, crypto, real estate, and NFTs—into one platform offering personalized insights and an AI companion capable of adapting its communication style. This move strongly signals OpenAI's strategic pivot toward building end-user applications focused on personalization, a vision shared by Vishwajith who believes personalization is the future of software, not just finance. The talent, particularly Vishwajith's background in optimizing user behavior for revenue, is expected to bolster OpenAI's consumer efforts led by Fidji Simo, especially as the company needs to generate meaningful revenue alongside its massive infrastructure spending.
