Crossing Minds, an AI startup focused on e-commerce recommendations, is shutting down its client work and its team is joining OpenAI.
The startup, backed by Index Ventures, Shopify, Plug and Play, and Radical Ventures, raised over $13.5 million. It specialized in privacy-conscious recommendation systems for online shoppers.
Co-founders announced the move on their website, saying they want to help build AI that benefits all humanity. 
Alexandre Robicquet, co-founder, updated his LinkedIn to say he now works on “Research, Post-training and Agents at OpenAI.” It’s unclear if the entire Crossing Minds team is joining.
The company also confirmed it won’t take on new clients.
“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,” the co-founders wrote.
Crossing Minds said they’ve worked with brands like Intuit, Anthropic, Udacity, and Chanel.
The shutdown comes as AI recommendation tech heats up. Google, Perplexity, and startups like Daydream have rolled out AI-powered shopping assistants. OpenAI itself added product recommendations and reviews to ChatGPT earlier this year.
OpenAI has not yet commented on the acquisition.
