In a move underscoring the growing importance of AI-powered personalization, OpenAI has absorbed the team behind Crossing Minds, a startup known for building privacy-focused recommendation systems for e-commerce and digital platforms.
The announcement, confirmed on Crossing Minds’ website and by updates to LinkedIn profiles of key executives, marks yet another strategic expansion for OpenAI beyond large language models and into practical AI tools designed to enhance online user experiences.
Founded in 2017 by Alexandre Robicquet, Emile Contal, and Dr. Michael Lomnitz, Crossing Minds established itself as an innovator in the personalization space.
The startup’s core technology analyzed customers’ real-time on-site behavior to generate precise product or content recommendations—without relying on personally identifiable information.
According to Crunchbase, the company secured more than $13.5 million in funding across multiple rounds, backed by prominent investors like Index Ventures, Shopify, Plug and Play, and Radical Ventures.
Its services were trusted by notable clients such as Intuit, Anthropic, Udacity, and Chanel, as confirmed by the firm’s archived website data.
Crossing Minds’ unique selling point was its emphasis on privacy, seeking to deliver high-quality recommendations without compromising user data—an approach increasingly in demand amid global regulatory scrutiny.
Why This Matters for OpenAI
The integration of Crossing Minds’ team into OpenAI signals a broader ambition for the ChatGPT-maker. While OpenAI has dominated headlines with its generative language models, it is clearly eyeing the commercial potential of AI-powered personalization tools.
In a statement on their website, Crossing Minds’ co-founders wrote:
“Joining OpenAI allows us to bring our work—and our values—into a mission we deeply respect: to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
“We’re thrilled to bring our experience and energy to a team that’s setting the direction for the future of AI. We’re excited to learn, to contribute, and to help shape what’s next.”
Alexandre Robicquet has updated his LinkedIn bio to reflect a new role at OpenAI as “Research, Post-training and Agents.” However, it remains unclear whether all of Crossing Minds’ team members will make the transition.
The move comes amid fierce competition in the AI-powered recommendation space. Tech giants such as Google and newer players like Perplexity AI have been aggressively rolling out features to enhance shopping and content discovery experiences through machine learning.
Meanwhile, startups like Daydream are attracting significant venture capital to build AI shopping assistants.
According to research from Statista, global e-commerce sales exceeded $5.7 trillion in 2022, and are projected to grow further, highlighting the commercial stakes in developing more sophisticated recommendation tools.
For e-commerce businesses, the ability to deliver hyper-personalized experiences can directly influence conversion rates, customer loyalty, and revenue growth. However, privacy remains a growing concern, with regulators in Europe, the U.S., and other regions scrutinizing how user data is collected and utilized.
Talking Points
While this acquisition may seem distant from Africa, it carries significant implications. Nigeria and other African markets have vibrant e-commerce sectors but largely rely on imported AI solutions.
Africa is Watching from the Sidelines, Again. While OpenAI acquires talent and tools to deepen its dominance in global AI innovation, Africa remains largely a consumer, not a contributor, in this space. When was the last time a Nigerian or Kenyan AI startup was acquired at this level? Until African governments and VCs take AI investment seriously, the continent will remain a testing ground—not a tech leader.
Talent Drain, But Not Just a Brain Drain. It’s easy to celebrate brilliant minds like those at Crossing Minds moving into OpenAI, but here’s the hard truth: the world’s best minds are being consolidated into the U.S.-based AI monopolies. If we’re not careful, we’re handing over not just our data—but our future intelligence.
Africa Needs Its Own ‘Crossing Minds’. Startups like Crossing Minds are built around privacy-first, data-light innovation. Why isn’t Africa building its own alternatives, especially when data protection regulations here are fragile and often outdated? The region doesn’t need more TikTok clones—it needs AI solutions rooted in local ethics and infrastructure realities.
