Regards to the offer were not revealed, however this appears like an acqui-hire. Davidson’s statement focused mainly on how he developed his AI travel representative Odessia by directing groups of AI representatives. The year-old Odessia raised a $6 million pre-seed round led by Sequoia and introduced its AI travel representative around 5 months back. Davidson states that it had actually assisted early adopters prepare countless dollars’ worth of travel, however the tool has actually currently been closed down.
An OpenAI representative validated the hire to TechCrunch. “We’re enjoyed invite Francis to OpenAI. Francis is a tested creator who has actually constructed numerous companies to assist individuals take a trip, and we’re thrilled he’s selected to develop with us.”
The AI laboratory has actually not revealed brand-new travel-specific items or strategies. It does, nevertheless, count such business as Bookings.com, Expedia, and KAYAK as consumers or partners. Travel is likewise among the primary locations that individuals are utilizing individual AI assistants to assist with. And, back in July 2025, when OpenAI introduced its ChatGPT representativeit pointed out travel as one of its prospective usages.
OpenAI’s representative didn’t have more to share on its prepare for travel-related items, other than to state that travel is among the locations that chatbot users regularly inquire about. “1.2 billion individuals turn to ChatGPT every week for assist with daily jobs– from comprehending their health, determining what to produce supper, constructing a budget plan, and even preparing a journey. We see a genuine chance to make these experiences much more beneficial,” the representative stated.
Getting Odessia is fascinating for another factor. Davidson is popular in the travel market after he established a travel start-up called Sonder as an university student in 2014. It was sort of like Airbnb, however it concentrated on short-term leasing of high end homes in significant cities worldwide. The pandemic severely injure it, and as it climbed up out of that rut, it went public through a SPAC however didn’t raise as much cash as it required, Davidson later on stated in a post revealing his resignation as CEO in June 2025.
When a crucial collaboration with Marriott failedthe business entered into insolvency and unwind. The insolvency trustee offered Sonder’s name, hallmarks, and site domain in 2026 to TravelAI, which site runs as a curated guide to the sort of travel leasing homes that Sonder was when understood for. Prior to its failure, Davidson had actually developed Sonder into a unicorn with $143 million in incomes. While Sonder was not, eventually, a success story, Davidson is the sort of battle-scarred creator that Silicon Valley frequently values.
We’ll have to wait and see what OpenAI has in shop now with travel, now that he’s signed up with the business.
Keep in mind: This story was upgraded with OpenAI’s remarks.
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Julie Bort is the Startups/Venture Desk editor for TechCrunch.
You can call or validate outreach from Julie by emailing or through @Julie188 on X.
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