Sam Altman's big bet: There’s a reason why ChatGPT loves India
“Amazing tech talent, a world-class developer ecosystem, and strong government support through the India AI Mission!”
When Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, said this in a statement, he was only remarking on India’s capabilities, but the statement inadvertently reveals the real reason why the poster child of the generative AI scene is entering India big time.
The company behind ChatGPT, the ‘Google killer’ AI tool, whose launch in end-2022 was the tipping point for artificial intelligence to go mainstream, made everyone sit up on Friday with its announcement that it was going all in on India.
According to a statement released by the US company early on Friday, OpenAI will open an office in the national capital region, and in fact, the startup upstart says it “has officially established an entity in India” besides starting to hire a dedicated local team.
Ostensibly, the company’s decision stems from what it says is “the growing demand for OpenAI’s advanced tools among people, developers and businesses across the country.” According to statistics, India is already ChatGPT’s second-largest market by users, with weekly active users increasing fourfold in the past one year.
But what is the real reason?
Yes, it is true OpenAI has been faster than many of its fellow tech giants on the US west coast in realising India’s potential. But, this rather surreptitious and lightning smooth entry into India is also based on its evaluation of other markets and the rush to sew up India before other rivals like Perplexity (which has a tie-up with Airtel, India’s second-biggest mobile operator) steal a march over it.
Study after study has revealed Indians to be more receptive of AI, and eager to upgrade their skills. Besides that, India also has a vast workpool in IT and tech. And any new technological transformation, while it may be a churn for those with existing capabilities, also offers them a way out, by adapting to the new wave.
And, the company wants to ensure that it catches them young and reap the benefits. It is no accident that the announcement statement gives substantial significance to the fact that the company will be hiring from India’s world-class developer ecosystem.
The buzz is already high amongst various online users, especially amidst institutions offering AI education, including those offering crash courses to those already employed in tech or corporate and wanting to upskill. On X, many have pointed out to the sudden job opportunities this entails.
However, it remains to be seen if OpenAI will actually have a development centre in India, or whether the office will be essentially a business one, doing sales and marketing, besides, of course, public policy, a euphemism for someone to lobby with authorities. Present indications are that only, since OpenAI's statement says it is looking at a local team to strengthen relationships with local partners, governments, businesses, developers and academic institutions.
Therein lies the second, bigger opportunity – the prospect of wooing enterprise contracts with India’s corporates by offering tailormade AI solutions. As Sameer Inamdar, co-founder and CEO at Enthral, which helps in upskilling professionals in AI, points out how India not only offers a vast AI talent pool, “but unmatched diversity in use cases, making it a fertile test bed for enterprise-ready innovation.”
The company obviously intends to capitalise on the huge business opportunity. “OpenAI’s presence in India signals a pivotal shift in how AI will be embedded into enterprise workflows, especially in high-trust environments like financial due diligence, M&A and legal collaboration,” said Harvinder Singh, founder and CEO of Conflex Data Room.
“We see this as a turning point (in) the ability to securely integrate AI into complex, compliant-heavy deal processes is no longer a futuristic vision,” he added. Now the billion-dollar question is this: Just like Indian consumers are lapping up ChatGPT, will Indian enterprises also line up to get Altman & co’s AI expertise?
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