On Wednesday, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, announced that India has become the company’s second-largest market in terms of user base, with the number of users tripling over the past year.
During a meeting with India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Altman explored India’s ambitions for establishing a cost-effective artificial intelligence ecosystem. He praised the nation’s swift adoption of AI technologies and its increasing aspirations in the field.
Vaishnaw shared on social media that his conversation with Altman was “super cool,” highlighting a discussion about India’s strategy to develop a comprehensive AI infrastructure, including GPUs, models, and applications. He noted that OpenAI expressed interest in collaborating across all three areas.
Altman remarked, “I think India should be doing everything. I think India should be one of the leaders of the AI revolution,” a notable shift from his comments last year, when he had expressed skepticism about India’s capacity to develop a significant model within OpenAI’s framework on a budget of $10 million (approximately ₹87 crore).
This visit marked Altman’s first trip to India in 2023, which comes amid ongoing legal challenges faced by OpenAI in the country.
Last week, Vaishnaw commended the Chinese startup DeepSeek for innovating within the sector by providing an affordable AI assistant. He compared its economical approach to his government’s initiative to create a localized AI model.
In a video from his discussion with Altman, Vaishnaw stated, “Our country sent a mission to the moon at a fraction of the cost that many other countries did, so why can’t we develop a model that will also be significantly less expensive than those of others?”
In a separate development, India’s finance ministry recently advised its employees against using AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official tasks, citing concerns over the confidentiality of government documents and data, according to an internal advisory.
Prior to his arrival in India, Altman visited Japan and South Korea, where he secured deals with SoftBank Group and Kakao. In Seoul, he also discussed the Stargate AI data center project with SoftBank and Samsung.
OpenAI is currently embroiled in a prominent copyright infringement dispute with major Indian media companies. The organization has claimed in court filings that it does not host its servers in India, asserting that the matter should not fall under the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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