OpenAI hosts first builder lounge for London’s AI startup community

OpenAI has held its first builder lounge event at its London headquarters, bringing together early-stage founders and developers for demos, discussions and networking.

Photo credit: Wulfie Bain

OpenAI has run its first builder lounge at its London headquarters, according to a LinkedIn post shared by Wulfie Bain, who works in Applied AI on the company’s Startups team.

The session was positioned as an informal event aimed at founders, engineers and early-stage builders working across the UK’s fast-growing AI ecosystem.

OpenAI develops the GPT and DALL·E model families and provides API access, enterprise tools and developer programs globally. The company says the builder lounge is part of ongoing work to support developers experimenting with new applications on top of its models, with a particular focus on startups working at the edge of applied AI.

In the LinkedIn post, Bain described the event as a low-key session designed to give builders space to share what they are working on and meet people they might not encounter on the usual London AI circuit. Bain wrote: “Our first builder lounge at OpenAI London HQ was awesome - great talks, suitably nerdy swag, and some small sparks introducing new people.”

Focus on demos, peer conversations and new connections

The evening included project demos from attendees and a fireside chat featuring OpenAI’s Alec Barber. Bain highlighted Barber’s contribution and wrote: “Alec Barber joined us for a fireside chat on working as an MTS at OpenAI + his journey with Context.ai (get you someone who looks at you the way I look at Alec talking about evals).”

Bain explained that the main aim of the session was to widen the pool of people entering the London AI community. While many events feature the same regular attendees, Bain said the builder lounge was structured to bring in people who might not otherwise have a route into OpenAI-connected spaces. The post stated: “My number one aim was creating new connections.”

The event drew startup founders, engineers and product teams working on applied AI projects across a range of verticals. Bain noted that several founders commented afterwards that they had met people they did not already know, describing new connections they intended to follow up.

While the gathering was described as low-key, the format aligns with OpenAI’s broader focus on supporting early-stage builders through workshops, office hours and developer meetups. Bain wrote that curating new connections can offer “an asymmetric chance for huge value add to people's lives,” pointing to moments where a single introduction leads to a cofounder or early investor.

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