Two years after calling its efforts 'hopeless' Sam Altman says India should lead AI, tech leaders rally behind him

Hailing India's efforts in the field of Artificial Intelligence, tech leaders across the globe have said that the country will soon emerge as a key player in the revolution. Thanks to its massive talent pool, rapid adoption of AI technologies, and substantial data wealth, India is poised to become a frontrunner in AI, they stated. 

According to Open AI CEO Sam Altman, India has emerged as an incredibly important market for AI in general and OpenAI in particular. "...mostly seeing what people in India are building, the stack, chips, models, all the incredible applications — India should be doing everything, India should be among the leaders of the AI revolution. It’s really quite amazing to see what the country has done," he said, adding that India is Open AI's second-biggest market. The company tripled its users in India last year, he claimed. 

Interestingly, Altman's latest comments are a stark contrast to his 2023 comments when he had called India's chances of building competitive AI models "totally hopeless." Responding to a question about whether a small team with a limited budget of $10 million could create a strong AI foundation model, he had said, “Look, the way this works is we're going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models. You shouldn't try, and it's your job to try anyway, and I believe both of those things.”

However, he has now clarified that his earlier statement was taken out of context, saying that AI models are still expensive to train but are becoming more feasible, and India should take a leadership role in this space.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, "India can lead the AI frontier!". Pichai pointed out that India should focus on Indic languages and to transform its industries using AI. "For example, I don’t think the last known big breakthrough in the AI frontier has happened. As I always say, we are just one mathematical breakthrough away from the entire edifice being thrown out, and we will go for something else. India has the maths talent, academic institutions, and research institutions to do the next big thing," he said. 

Echoing similar views, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said India is the home to some of the world's top computer scientists. This, he said, can become a major strength for India’s potential to become a global leader in AI innovation. "It makes complete sense that India should manufacture its own AI. India’s next generation will be the back-office for AI delivery," he added. 

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said India's massive population and data wealth create a unique advantage in the AI landscape.

Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka if China can do it with DeepSeek, India, too, can. "I think India is so vast and important for the future of the world that India should do all of it. Of course, India should build applications, but it is wrong to say that India should not build models," he said.