OpenAI, Bain expand team up to sell AI products to industry clients – report

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)-backed OpenAI is expanding its partnership with Bain to sell the AI company’s products, including ChatGPT, to clients of the consulting firm, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed by the two companies, according to the report.

The two companies first announced a collaboration in 2023 to bring OpenAI’s capabilities to its clients globally. In August 2024, Bain’s 13,000 consultants received licenses for ChatGPT Enterprise, the report added.

At the core of the agreement is a team which will build industry-specific AI tools for sectors including retail and life sciences, said Christophe De Vusser, worldwide managing partner and chief executive of Bain,

The Boston-based consulting firm is putting about 50 employees into the joint effort. OpenAI’s COO Brad Lightcap declined to say how many OpenAI team members would be involved.

The two companies intend to reach industries which require more custom solutions than an off-the-shelf version of ChatGPT. But even with custom products, selling AI products to businesses has proven to be more challenging than expected

Businesses have moved beyond experimenting with AI, said De Vusser adding that, “corporate technology leaders are now asking whether their private data is ready to use with AI, and what results they can get out of their AI investments,” as per the report.

For retailers, Bain and OpenAI are developing solutions such as AI-based shelf and space planning tools which can support forecasting, planning and pricing of goods, De Vusser noted. In life sciences, drugmaker Amgen is working with Bain and OpenAI to automate the creation of documents, the report added.

Bain noted that 30% of its revenue is technology and AI related, and the number is expected to reach 50% in coming years.

De Vusser added that Bain has worked with hundreds of clients on OpenAI technology.

OpenAI said it now has 1 million paying business clients, including users of ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu, a product for universities. The number has risen from the 600,000 paying users OpenAI said it had in April, according to the report.

As of now, OpenAI has not developed its own industry-specific products, besides ChatGPT Edu which has similar controls to ChatGPT Enterprise but the startup noted that it is less than half the cost.

OpenAI does not disclose the number of companies which have purchased its AI products. The company also sells access to its application programming interface, or API, which enables companies to integrate its technology into their products or back-end solutions. Usage of the company’s API has doubled since July, the report added.