OpenAI is purchasing software-testing startup Statsig in a deal reportedly worth $1.1 billion and has named its founder and CEO Vijaye Raji the ChatGPT-maker’s CTO of Applications as part of the move to build out that division, announced in May under CEO Fidji Simo, who previously ran Instacart. Reporting to Simo, Raji will head product engineering for ChatGPT and Codex “with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure and integrity,” said OpenAI, a client of Statsig, whose services include powering A/B testing, feature flagging, and “real-time decisioning.”

“Bringing Statsig’s experimentation platform in-house is expected to accelerate product development across the Applications organization,” TechCrunch writes.

Prior to founding Statsig, Raji spent 10 years at Meta Platforms, most recently as VP and head of entertainment at Facebook, experience OpenAI says contributes to the “entrepreneurial vision and operating expertise” that will help him scale the AI company’s next generation of products.

Raji comes aboard amidst other changes in OpenAI’s executive suite. “Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil will become VP of a new group called OpenAI for Science” that aims to develop “an AI-powered platform that accelerates scientific discovery,” TechCrunch reports. To achieve that, Weil plans to work closely with Sebastien Bubeck, a researcher at OpenAI who in October 2024 left his position as VP of AI and distinguished scientist at Microsoft.

The all-stock Statsig transaction is based on the company’s $1.1 billion valuation at the time of its $100 million funding round in May. SiliconANGLE says that “once the deal closes, Statsig will continue to operate as an independent entity at its Seattle-based headquarters” though employees “will be given the option to transition to OpenAI if they wish.”

The move continues the trend toward creative hiring strategies, sometimes called “acquihires,” that Big Tech firms have adopted as they compete for top talent.

In June, Meta acquired a 49 percent stake in Scale AI, spending between $14- and $15 billion in a deal that brought its CEO Alexandr Wang in-house. Last year, Google paid $2.7 billion to license Character.AI tech and re-hire co-founder Noam Shazeer’s return to Alphabet.