OpenAI, the company behind influential AI models like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, is looking to take a broader stake in the AI game. And it’s doling out millions to AI startups in an effort to make that happen.

The SF-based AI R&D company, founded in 2015 by Elon Musk, Y Combinator’s Sam Altman, Stripe’s Greg Brockman, and others, is the same organization that helped kick off the current generative AI boom.

• The company owns and operates large-scale AI models that a number of startups are built atop, including, most recently, ChatGPT.

Get invested: OpenAI announced a $100 million startup fund in May, with support from Microsoft and other investors, and in November, it debuted the fund’s first accelerator program.

• The program, called Converge, will fund chosen startups with $1 million each in equity investment as well as “early access to OpenAI models” and a five-week program of workshops and office hours from OpenAI.

“[We’re] thinking about, ‘What are the application areas that we really don’t understand super well today?’” Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI and manager of the OpenAI Startup Fund, told us in an interview. “I think there’s going to be a class of things that are new, like any platform shift. Who could have predicted Airbnb in 2005?”

Read the full interview with Lightcap on OpenAI’s investment thesis and more.—HF

Inflation is high, tech stocks are down, but for at least one digital transformation-focused company, things are looking alright.

Zoom out: From semiconductor manufacturers to PC makers to FAANG, tech companies have missed earnings and slashed expectations as an economic cocktail of high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply-chain disruptions bear down on their businesses. Some financial analysts, like Bank of America, expect the sector’s pain to continue for the next few years.

Zoom in: But PTC, a Massachusetts-based SaaS company specializing in developing computer-aided design (CAD), product lifecycle management (PLM), IoT, and AR technologies, was a seemingly rare bright spot, reporting growth across its business in its most recent earnings report.

• In its November earnings call, PTC said it beat its annual recurring revenue guidance for its fiscal Q4 2022.
• ARR climbed 7% year over year, up from nearly $1.5 billion in Q4 2021 to almost $1.6 billion this year. Revenue was $508 million in Q4 of 2022, up 6% from the $481 million reported in Q4 of 2021.

Kristian Talvitie, chief financial officer at PTC, attributed the company’s performance in part to its customer base of industrial product companies, which he said are generally consistent in their R&D spending.

“From a top-line perspective, we serve industrial product companies. And R&D at those companies tends to be quite resilient, so we have a supportive top-line backdrop. We’ve also transitioned successfully to a subscription business model, and our products are very sticky with our customers,” Talvitie told investors. Keep reading this story on-site.—JM

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

RPlanet Earth is an innovative packaging company reusing post-consumer plastics as a feedstock to produce the highest-quality products with the lowest carbon footprint. My responsibility is to design and implement projects to improve our plastic recycling process. These projects include automation infrastructure (like optical sorters and robots) to sort out the contamination in curbside recycling streams. Basically, I work to make plastic recycling more environmentally friendly and economical.

What’s your favorite emerging tech project you’ve worked on?

AI robots using neural networks to properly identify contamination in waste streams. There are robots on the market now that can identify plastic bottles and packaging by the brand!

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

Most optimistic about the effectiveness of intelligent sorting with automation and robots in the waste industry. Specifically, I’m optimistic that in the future we could have digital watermarks embedded in all plastic packaging, which will provide effective identification and sorting, but also massive amounts of data.

I’m least optimistic about biodegradable materials or bioplastics. From my knowledge, most of the materials currently on the market need industrial composters to actually degrade. The composting infrastructure is far less developed than the recycling infrastructure. To be clear, I think compostable material has a place, but there needs to be a multi-pronged approach to solving the plastic waste crisis that involves reusing, recycling, and biodegradable packaging.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I surf at least three times per week.

Stat: The IDC estimates that global AR/VR spending will hit $13.8 billion this year, a quaint sum compared to what the firm forecasts it will balloon to by 2026: $50.9 billion.

Quote: “There’s a lot of noise around, ‘How long is it going to take for fully autonomous vehicles to happen?’ [and] ‘What’s the path to realization?’ And I think that’s a different game and battle altogether, largely, than…what we’ve been doing.”—Luminar CEO and founder Austin Russel, to Emerging Tech Brew

Read: The productivity tech you’ve been looking for is already at your fingertips. Here’s the case for messaging yourself more often.

Learn: Text-based “smishing” attacks are on the rise, and IT leaders are scrambling for solutions. IT Brew offers insight into combating this rampant cyber threat. Check it out.

Objective obsessive: There’s a new secret potion brewing among big leaguers in tech—OKRs. Unfamiliar? Oracle NetSuite’s business guide will show you how objectives and key results frameworks can help you crush your goals. Learn more here.*  

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The weekend’s over, which can only mean one thing: It’s time for our weekly news quiz.

Click here to play this week’s trivia.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• 5G private networks are surging in popularity—here’s why
• Luminar’s quest to become a major auto supplier
• Remote employee monitoring tech is on the rise