OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stressed India’s pivotal role in the global AI landscape, stating that the country should be one of the leaders in the AI revolution. Speaking at a fireside chat with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Altman highlighted India’s expanding AI ecosystem, from chip development to AI models and applications.
“India is an incredibly important market for AI in general, for OpenAI in particular. It’s our second-biggest market, and we have tripled our users here in the last year,” said Altman. “The country has embraced AI technology and is building the entire stack, from chips to models and applications.”
His comments mark a significant shift in tone from his 2023 remarks, where he expressed scepticism about powerful AI models emerging outside the United States.
India’s AI Push Gains Momentum
India has been accelerating its AI efforts, unveiling plans to develop its own foundational AI model. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reaffirmed the country’s commitment, stating: "Innovation can come from anywhere in the world, so why shouldn’t it come from India?"
Last week, the government announced a national AI initiative, which includes:
• A foundational AI model aimed at competing with ChatGPT and DeepSeek R1. • A national compute infrastructure with 18,693 GPUs to support startups and researchers in building AI applications. • A government-backed subsidy that would bring down the cost of AI computing in India to less than ₹100 per hour ($1.16) - significantly lower than the $2.5-$3 per hour cost of global AI models.
Minister Vaishnaw noted that India’s AI stack will be built on three pillars—GPUs, models, and applications.
Altman’s visit comes at a time when OpenAI is facing rising competition from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has disrupted the industry with low-cost, high-performance AI models. DeepSeek’s R1 model, built for under $6 million, has overtaken ChatGPT as the top-ranked free AI app on Apple’s App Store.
The shake-up has already had major financial repercussions—AI chipmaker Nvidia lost $590 billion in market value in a single day, marking the largest one-day wipeout of any company in history.
Additionally, OpenAI is also battling legal issues in India, with multiple lawsuits over copyright concerns. The company has maintained that it only uses publicly available data and has questioned whether Indian courts have jurisdiction over the matter.
Altman’s India visit aligns with the broader geopolitical AI race. Just last month, the U.S. government announced a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment in collaboration with Oracle, Microsoft, and SoftBank to bolster America’s AI capabilities. Meanwhile, OpenAI and SoftBank have formed a 50:50 joint venture, SB OpenAI Japan, to expand AI applications in Japanese markets.
While India is building its own AI ecosystem, OpenAI is also looking to collaborate with the country. In a tweet after the discussion, Vaishnaw noted that Altman was open to working with India across all AI verticals.