In a groundbreaking moment for Pakistan’s technology ecosystem, Jams, a generative AI startup founded by Pakistani engineers, has officially joined OpenAI — the world’s leading artificial intelligence research company and creator of ChatGPT. This acquisition marks a historic milestone for Pakistan’s growing presence in the global AI landscape, signaling that local innovation is ready to compete on a world stage.
The Big Announcement
On November 9, 2025, OpenAI announced the acquisition of Jams, a startup founded by Asad Awan and Hamza Aftab, two Pakistani-origin engineers who previously worked at Meta (Facebook).
Jams specialized in generative video technology — AI systems capable of creating realistic, dynamic video content from simple prompts. Its cutting-edge work in this area caught OpenAI’s attention as the company expands into multimodal AI, combining text, image, and video generation capabilities.
This partnership is not only a huge win for the startup’s founders but also for Pakistan’s entire tech industry, representing one of the first major global acquisitions of a Pakistani-founded AI company.
What Is Jams and What Does It Do?
Founded in 2022, Jams aimed to revolutionize the world of digital storytelling. The company focused on creating tools that let users generate video content directly from text or audio, making production faster, cheaper, and more accessible.
Their platform used generative AI models to synthesize characters, scenes, and motion automatically — an approach similar to OpenAI’s recent push into Sora, its text-to-video model.
Jams quickly gained attention in Silicon Valley, securing early investment from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most prestigious U.S. venture firms, as well as Indus Valley Capital, a leading Pakistani venture fund founded by Aatif Awan.
Why This Deal Matters
The acquisition of Jams by OpenAI holds deep significance on multiple levels:
🌍 For Pakistan’s Tech Industry
This deal proves that Pakistani talent is global-class. Despite limited infrastructure and challenges in the local startup environment, Jams’ success shows that innovation knows no borders.
Investors and founders in Pakistan are calling it a “watershed moment” that will inspire a new generation of AI entrepreneurs.
⚙️ For OpenAI
OpenAI gains access to a team with strong expertise in generative video AI — a domain central to its future direction. The Jams team’s experience will likely strengthen OpenAI’s upcoming products that combine text, image, and motion, paving the way for more immersive AI tools.
💡 For Global AI Development
This acquisition demonstrates how AI innovation is becoming globalized. No longer limited to Silicon Valley, frontier research and product development are emerging from diverse regions like Pakistan, India, and the Middle East.
Founders’ Vision and Journey
Both Asad Awan and Hamza Aftab have been vocal about their mission to make AI more creative and accessible. With engineering backgrounds and prior experience at Meta, they saw early on that video generation would be the next frontier after text and image AI.
Their journey wasn’t easy — building an AI company from Pakistan meant navigating limited funding, data access, and infrastructure challenges. But their persistence paid off. Within three years, Jams went from a small idea to a globally recognized innovation leader now backed by OpenAI.
“Our mission was always to push creative boundaries with AI,” said co-founder Hamza Aftab.
“Joining OpenAI allows us to scale that vision globally.”
A Win for Pakistani Innovation
For Pakistan, this acquisition is more than a tech headline — it’s a moment of pride. It places the country on the global AI map and highlights the potential of Pakistani engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs to contribute to world-changing technologies.
Aatif Awan, founder of Indus Valley Capital, called the deal “a defining moment that proves Pakistan’s startup ecosystem can build products at a global scale.”
This success could attract more foreign investment, encourage AI-focused education, and inspire policy shifts to support innovation-driven entrepreneurship in the country.
Strategic Significance for OpenAI
OpenAI’s acquisition aligns with its long-term strategy to dominate multimodal AI systems — models that can understand and generate across multiple forms of media, including text, audio, images, and now video.
With Jams’ video synthesis expertise, OpenAI could accelerate development of its rumored AI video model, expected to rival tools from companies like Runway, Pika Labs, and Google DeepMind.
Industry analysts suggest that this partnership could make OpenAI’s ecosystem more comprehensive — integrating ChatGPT, DALL·E, and video generation into one seamless creative platform.
Pakistan’s Growing AI Landscape
The timing of this acquisition aligns with Pakistan’s National AI Policy 2025, which aims to create 3 million AI-related jobs by 2030 and encourage local R&D.
Startups like Jams, Retake, and DeafTawk have already shown that Pakistani innovators can build impactful global solutions. Jams’ success will likely inspire new startups and motivate international VCs to take a closer look at South Asian tech ecosystems.
The Road Ahead
The Jams team is expected to join OpenAI’s product and research divisions in the U.S., contributing to next-generation video generation tools. While the company will now operate under OpenAI’s umbrella, its legacy will remain an inspiring story for Pakistan’s youth and innovators.
For many, this deal represents more than an acquisition — it’s an invitation. An invitation for Pakistani technologists to dream bigger, code bolder, and know that the world is watching.
Final Thoughts
The story of Jams is one of passion, persistence, and possibility. From a small AI experiment to joining one of the world’s most advanced research labs, it shows that talent from anywhere can change the world.
OpenAI’s acquisition of a Pakistani-founded company is not just a corporate deal — it’s a statement:
“Innovation has no borders, and the future of AI is global.”
For Pakistan, it’s a proud moment — a signal that the next generation of global AI leaders could just as easily come from Lahore, Karachi, or Islamabad as from San Francisco or London.
