OpenAI has acquired a startup called Multi to build the ChatGPT desktop app. Alexander Embiricos, the founder of Multi, will be joining OpenAI. Effective today, Multi will be shut down. “We’ve closed new team signups, and currently active teams will be able to use the app until July 24, 2024, after which we’ll delete all user data,” the company said in a blog post.
“We’ve been increasingly asking ourselves how we should work with computers. Not on or using computers, but truly with computers. With AI. We believe it’s one of the most important product questions of our time,” added the company in its blog post.
“So much to say, but what matters most? Talking to users and shipping. With that in mind… I couldn’t be more excited to have joined the ChatGPT desktop team. Send me your feedback and bug reports. DMs open!,” posted Embiricos on X.
Multi, previously known as Remotion, is a collaboration platform co-founded by Embiricos in 2021 during the significant shift to remote work. The company aimed to replicate the spontaneous collaboration of in-person work environments through a remote communication platform. The goal was to facilitate impromptu video calls and presence-based interactions.
Multi allows users to share applications across workspaces. Teams can code, edit, and work together as if they were side by side, regardless of their physical location. The platform supports native apps to provide the best user experience, emphasising clear screen sharing and audio quality.
The company raised $13 million in funding to date from investors including Greylock Partners and First Round.
This is OpenAI’s second acquisition in a week, following its purchase of Rockset, a data analytics company co-founded in 2016 by former Meta engineers Dhruba Borthakur and Venkat Venkataramani, for $105 million (INR 905 crore). This acquisition aims to leverage Rockset’s advanced analytics to enhance OpenAI’s retrieval infrastructure.
