Sam Altman’s current endorsement of India’s AI capabilities marks a notable shift from his previous stance. In a 2023 interview, he had expressed doubts about India being able to develop AI models com

Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, on his second visit to India in two years, urged the nation to become a leader in artificial intelligence (AI). This is in sharp contrast to his earlier stance where he had called competing with OpenAI on AI models a totally “hopeless” endeavour, particularly for young Indian startups.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has declared India the company’s most critical international market. Altman’s statement came after a year that saw OpenAI’s user base in India triple, marking the end of a multi-day tour of Asia that included stops in Tokyo and Delhi.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday said that the country is important for Artificial Intelligence and OpenAI, and added that India - with its full stack model - should be among the leaders of the AI revolution.

India should be a leader in building small models, especially reasoning models,” Altman said, emphasising that while AI training costs will continue to rise exponentially, the returns in intelligence and revenue will also grow significantly.