Updates·October 31, 2026, 03:49

Cognizant puts more than 25,000 employees on OpenAI work

AI-generated from the sources listed, with automated source checks.

IT consultancy Cognizant has created a group of more than 25,000 employees tasked with delivering OpenAI technology to enterprise customers. The move comes about 11 days after a similar push around Google's Gemini.

IT consultancy Cognizant announced on October 30, 2026, that it has created an OpenAI Frontier Capability Group. According to the company, the group includes more than 25,000 employees who will help enterprise customers adopt OpenAI's products and services.

Cognizant is an Advanced partner in the OpenAI Partner Network.

Three focus areas from the start

The group is starting with three areas, which are planned as a baseline:

- Software development with Codex, OpenAI's tool for helping write code. - Application modernization, including moving old mainframe systems to the cloud. - AI agents in customer service and sales. AI agents are programs that can carry out tasks for a business on their own.

Cognizant says more than 21,000 employees have earned over 40,000 OpenAI badges for completed learning programs on the technology. According to the company, Codex hackathons in India and the Americas have drawn more than 12,000 participants.

As an example, Cognizant highlights a biopharmaceutical company where an OpenAI-based enterprise assistant has handled more than 5 million conversations. According to Cognizant, it has cut the time needed to produce content by 60 percent. The customer is not named, and the figures come from Cognizant itself.

Also a Gemini push

On October 19, 2026, Cognizant created a Gemini Frontier Capability Group with more than 18,000 employees together with Google Cloud. The OpenAI announcement thus comes about 11 days later. It is unclear whether the two groups share employees, or whether the 25,000 are dedicated full-time staff.

The Next Web reads the two moves as signs of a multi-vendor strategy rather than dependence on a single AI provider.

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S says: "We are committing more than 25,000 of our people to bring that change into our clients' businesses." About OpenAI, he says: "With Codex and ChatGPT, OpenAI is changing both at once."

Cognizant believes companies have a skills shortage rather than a shortage of models.

According to The Next Web, OpenAI itself set up a dedicated deployment unit in May and bought Northslope in July.

What does it mean?

For companies considering AI, the news shows that large consultancies are building large teams around individual AI providers. However, these are Cognizant's own figures, and they have not been independently verified.