A plan by OpenAI to launch its first office in India has to be aligned with New Delhi’s goal to transform the country into an artificial intelligence hub, with a focus on objectives ranging from intellectual property protection to quality education, according to industry experts.
Advertisement
The move comes as the San Francisco-based maker of ChatGPT faces intense competition from its American AI rivals, Google’s Gemini and Perplexity AI, with all three companies offering low-cost subscription plans or free access to win over users in India.
Earlier this month, OpenAI rolled out a ChatGPT subscription plan priced at 399 rupees (US$4.57) per month – its most affordable yet globally – as part of its push to expand its presence in its second-largest market by user numbers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement last week: “Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India.”
Altman, who is expected to visit New Delhi to launch the company’s local office later this year, also said in a separate social media post: “AI adoption in India has been amazing to watch – ChatGPT users grew 4x in the past year – and we are excited to invest much more in India!”
Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics and information technology, hailed India’s partnership with OpenAI, saying in a social media post last week that the country was “uniquely positioned to drive the next wave of AI-led transformation”. He added: “As part of the IndiaAI Mission, we are building the ecosystem for trusted and inclusive AI.”