Did OpenAI Just Get a Job at an Accounting Firm?
Thrive Holdings just handed OpenAI the keys to the office—and the coffee machine. OpenAI isn’t just investing; it’s sending in its own tech wizards to live among accountants and IT folks like undercover robots in business casual.
Thrive’s goal? Buy everyday companies (think accounting and IT), then rebuild them with AI instead of spreadsheets and sighs. Their two babies—Crete (accounting) and Shield (IT)—already have $600 million combined in backing and a growing number of automation tricks.
For OpenAI, this isn’t charity—it’s field research. With a $500 billion valuation and trillion-dollar bills coming due, it needs proof that AI can do more than write poems and PowerPoints.
Thrive’s strategy skips the endless “AI pilot” meetings and goes straight to: buy company, fix company, repeat. It’s hands-on innovation meets corporate renovation.
If it works, they’ll turn dull office jobs into AI-fueled efficiency machines and make “digital transformation” sound less like a buzzword and more like a business plan. If it fails—well, at least the bots will finally understand how frustrating accounting software can be.
Either way, Thrive and OpenAI just hit “save as new version” on what the workplace might look like next.
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