OpenAI bought another company, this time Odessia, which makes travel agents. To say "buying a company" is actually not accurate. Odessia has only been established for a year, its products have only been online for five months, and the related tools have been shut down.
Founder Francis Davidson sent a message himself: The company was merged into OpenAI, and he joined the company himself to explore what AI can do in travel. Neither the amount nor the terms were disclosed. OpenAI later confirmed the appointment but did not announce plans for any travel products.
So this is a deal for people.
Davidson is no newcomer to the travel scene. In 2014, while he was still in college, he founded Sonder, an apartment-style short-term rental platform, which later achieved annual revenue of US$143 million and a valuation of over one billion. It didn't end well, as Sonder filed for bankruptcy and dissolved after its partnership with Marriott collapsed. Odessia is his re-start, taking a US$6 million seed round led by Sequoia, and according to him, it has helped early users plan trips worth millions of dollars.
OpenAI has only one reason: travel is a topic that users often ask about ChatGPT. It is now used by 1.2 billion people every week, and the demand for booking flights and hotels is naturally huge. Travel was listed as a typical scenario when the ChatGPT agent was released last July, with partners including Booking.com, Expedia and KAYAK.
The subtlety lies in these three partners. An OpenAI spokesperson was asked whether he would make travel products on his own, but did not answer directly. If you only plan to continue to serve as a traffic portal, there is no need to ask someone who has run a hotel company to "explore the direction."
For OTA platforms, this news is more noteworthy than any model upgrade.