OpenAI Builds AI Deployment Biz Around Team Behind Virgin Atlantic Concierge

OpenAI is turning AI deployment into a $4 billion standalone business called OpenAI Deployment Company, and its new acquisition of Tomoro gives the initiative a ready-made travel proof point: Virgin Atlantic’s AI concierge.

Through the Tomoro acquisition, the deployment business starts out with some 150 engineers and AI deployment experts who have experience working with clients across finance, gaming, retail, and travel.

The launch “will help bridge a critical gap for customers,” wrote OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar in a LinkedIn post. With Tomoro’s “track record deploying AI in complex enterprise environments for companies like Tesco and Virgin Atlantic,” she said, “the team will expand our ability to embed frontier AI engineers directly within organizations around the world.”

OpenAI’s stated plan is to embed deployment personnel inside client companies, so they can identify the best use cases for AI, facilitate the tech’s adoption, a