OpenAI acquires Israeli-founded camera startup Glass Imaging for over $300 million
Founded by Israeli former Apple engineer Ziv Attar and his former colleague Tom Bishop, Glass Imaging uses AI to overcome limitations in compact cameras and has developed technology for smartphones, drones and wearables.
OpenAI has quietly acquired Glass Imaging, a startup developing artificial intelligence technology designed to dramatically improve the quality of images captured by compact cameras, according to people familiar with the matter cited by The Wall Street Journal.
The deal reportedly values Glass Imaging at more than $300 million, a significant increase from the roughly $100 million valuation it received in a funding round last year. The acquisition adds an Israeli founder and former Apple imaging engineers to OpenAI’s growing hardware ambitions, although it remains unclear exactly how the company plans to use Glass Imaging’s technology.
Glass Imaging was founded in 2019 by Ziv Attar, an Israeli entrepreneur and former Apple engineer, and Tom Bishop, Ph.D., who also previously worked at Apple. The two led the team that created the technology behind the iPhone’s Portrait Mode before leaving the company to develop a new approach to digital imaging.
Their premise was that the improvement in smartphone cameras was running into a technological “glass ceiling.” Rather than continuing to rely primarily on larger sensors, additional cameras and increasingly sophisticated optics, Glass Imaging sought to use AI to extract more information from the hardware already inside compact cameras.
The company’s GlassAI technology uses AI to process raw image data and correct optical aberrations, sensor imperfections and noise. Glass says its software can be integrated into cameras using edge AI and is designed to produce sharper and more detailed images while preserving real image content rather than generating or hallucinating details.
In a May 2025 announcement, Glass said its technology could boost camera performance by 10 times, a claim made by the company as it sought to license its technology to manufacturers. The company was developing GlassAI for a range of platforms, including smartphones, drones and wearable devices, rather than limiting its technology to phones.
“At Glass Imaging we are building the future of imaging technology,” Attar, the company’s founder and CEO, said at the time. “GlassAI can unlock the full potential of all cameras to deliver stunning ultra-detailed results and razor sharp imagery.”
The technology is based on what Glass describes as a combination of computational imaging and edge AI. Its software processes bursts of raw image data and uses image-restoration networks to correct imperfections in the optical system and sensor while reducing noise and recovering fine textures.
That approach could give OpenAI access to technology that sits at the intersection of hardware and AI, potentially relevant to the company’s broader efforts to develop consumer devices.
OpenAI is simultaneously working on a secret new device alongside Jony Ive, the former Apple executive and key designer of the iPhone. OpenAI brought Ive on board in 2025 through the $6.5 billion acquisition of his startup, io Products. Ive is now working on consumer hardware and other projects aimed at shaping the look and feel of future AI-powered products.
It is not clear whether Glass Imaging’s technology will be incorporated into the device being developed with Ive, used in another OpenAI product or applied in ways unrelated to consumer hardware. OpenAI has not publicly detailed the role Glass Imaging will play following the acquisition.
The company’s technology was designed from the outset to extend beyond smartphones. Glass said in its May 2025 announcement that it was developing licensable intellectual property for novel camera architectures and software-based solutions, with applications ranging from phones to drones and wearables.
Glass had raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Insight Partners in May 2025. The round also included existing investors GV, Future Ventures and Abstract Ventures.
That followed a $9.3 million extended seed round in 2024 led by GV and joined by Future Ventures, Abstract Ventures and LDV Capital. The company’s initial seed round in 2021 was led by LDV Capital along with GroundUP Ventures.
