Private Equity Groups Begin Placing AI Experts in Portfolio Companies

Private equity firms, such as Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman, are reportedly recruiting artificial intelligence experts to bolster their portfolio companies' businesses, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on August 21. The Wall Street Journal cited Blackstone's partnership with Anthropic, a $1.5 billion investment that formed a 160-person AI expert team.

Rodney Zemmel, head of Blackstone's operating team, stated that the team comprises senior engineers rather than inexperienced AI learners. The collaboration through a stand-alone company, Ode, aims to provide services to both private-equity-owned businesses and beyond. Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Anthropic have collectively pledged $300 million to the venture.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has launched a rival venture that would offer consulting services to companies, with a $4 billion investment led by private-equity firm TPG. This development occurs as business leaders scrutinize AI spending, with white-collar anxiety about the technology increasing. However, executives are backing away from predictions of widespread job cuts due to AI. Private-equity executives emphasized that Ode will help establish new product lines to boost revenue, with cost savings being secondary.

Blackstone plans to extend the Ode effort to 25 of its 270-plus portfolio companies, with Ode engineers already operating at six of these businesses, including the Chamberlain Group, a maker of garage-door openers. Chamberlain has started using AI experts to enhance software features, such as informing homeowners if packages have arrived.

The AI sector is also witnessing increased usage of AI shopping tools, as PYMNTS reported last week. Target CEO Michael Fiddelke stated that agentic shopping-related digital traffic sourced from external AI platforms is growing at Target. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence indicates that 38% of AI users utilize AI to compare prices across retailers, while 36% use it to find deals. Furthermore, 49% of consumers interested in agentic AI would allow an assistant to complete both routine and larger purchases on their own.