OpenAI will give roughly 10 AI startups $1M each and early access to its systems

OpenAI, the San Francisco-based lab behind AI systems like GPT-3 and DALL-E 2, today launched a new program to provide early-stage AI startups with capital and access to OpenAI tech and resources. Called Converge, the cohort will be financed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, OpenAI says. The $100 million entrepreneurial tranche was announced last May and was backed by Microsoft and other partners. The 10 or so founders chosen for Converge will receive $1 million each and admission to five weeks of office hours, workshops and events with OpenAI staff, as well as early access to OpenAI models and "programming tailored to AI companies." "We're excited to meet groups across all phases of the seed stage, from pre-idea solo founders to co-founding teams already working on a product," OpenAI writes in a blog post shared with TechCrunch ahead of today's announcement.