TLDRs:
- OpenAI plans to expand in India, offering more affordable AI tools and improving multilingual support.
- CEO Sam Altman calls India OpenAI’s second-largest and fastest-growing market after the U.S.
- Local partnerships will boost access and affordability while ensuring compliance with India’s AI regulations.
- Altman dismisses job loss fears, predicting AI will increase productivity and reshape high-skilled work.
OpenAI is set to deepen its footprint in India with a commitment to make its advanced artificial intelligence tools more affordable and accessible to a wider audience.
Speaking in a Thursday interview, CEO Sam Altman revealed that India has now become OpenAI’s second-largest and fastest-growing market after the United States, reflecting the country’s growing importance in the global AI economy.
To achieve this, the company will collaborate with local partners to drive down costs, broaden adoption, and ensure that AI’s benefits reach businesses, developers, and everyday users across the nation. Altman emphasized that affordability is central to OpenAI’s mission of democratizing AI access, especially in markets with diverse income levels and high digital adoption rates.
GPT-5 Brings Indian Language and Reasoning Upgrades
The push into India coincides with the release of GPT-5, OpenAI’s most advanced AI model yet. According to the company, GPT-5 delivers significant improvements in reasoning and problem-solving, along with expanded multilingual support, with a special focus on Indian languages.
“India represents an extraordinary opportunity for AI innovation and application,” Altman said, adding that local language support will help small businesses, startups, and educators integrate AI into daily operations.
By enabling AI to operate effectively in local languages, OpenAI hopes to accelerate adoption among small businesses, startups, educators, and researchers who work outside English-dominant environments. This localization could be a key differentiator for the company in a competitive market where global AI players are seeking regional relevance.
AI’s Impact on Jobs Remains a Complex Debate
Responding to persistent concerns about artificial intelligence replacing human jobs, particularly in software engineering, Altman argued that there is “unlimited demand for software” and that AI will change how work is done, not eliminate it entirely.
While acknowledging that some IT firms have leaned more heavily on AI-generated code amid layoffs, he pointed to evidence suggesting that AI often enhances productivity and reduces costs rather than rendering skilled roles obsolete.
Research from the Brookings Institution paints a more nuanced picture: higher-educated professionals face the greatest exposure to AI technologies, being nearly four times more likely to be affected than those with only high school education. This suggests that AI may reshape high-skill jobs by automating repetitive tasks while elevating the role of human creativity and oversight.
Regulatory Compliance and Next Steps
Altman also confirmed that OpenAI will fully comply with India’s emerging AI regulations, recognizing that each country is taking its own approach to governance. Regulatory cooperation, he said, will be vital to ensuring safe, ethical, and sustainable AI deployment.
India’s AI capabilities further justify OpenAI’s focus on the country. LinkedIn data shows that India ranks among the world’s top five nations for AI skills penetration, with a remarkable 190% growth in AI expertise between 2015 and 2017. This dual advantage, as a massive consumer market and a rich talent pool—positions India as both a testing ground and a development hub for the company’s future innovations.
Altman is scheduled to visit India again in September to advance partnership discussions, strengthen government and industry relationships, and assess the impact of OpenAI’s localized initiatives.
