OpenAI chief Sam Altman plans India visit, sources say

Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s chief Sam Altman is planning to go to India subsequent week, three sources with direct data of the matter stated, in what could possibly be his first go to in two years at a time when the corporate faces authorized challenges within the nation.

The sources stated Altman has scheduled his journey to New Delhi for February 5. One of many sources stated a gathering with authorities officers was additionally on the playing cards.

However the schedule shouldn’t be finalised and his plans may nonetheless change, the folks stated.

OpenAI, India’s IT ministry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.

OpenAI has stated India is its second-largest market by variety of customers, after the USA.

Altman visited India in 2023 when he met Modi in New Delhi and mentioned the potential of AI in boosting India’s tech ecosystem.

Since then, OpenAI has confronted a number of authorized challenges in India. A lawsuit towards it claiming breaches of copyright started final yr after native information company ANI challenged it in a New Delhi courtroom. Ebook publishers and virtually a dozen digital media retailers, together with these owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, have additionally since joined the case.

OpenAI has stated it solely makes use of publicly obtainable information in a fashion protected by honest use rules, and has stated Indian courts haven’t any jurisdiction to listen to the matter.

Individually, a worldwide tech market rout was triggered this week after the emergence of Chinese language AI rival DeepSeek. DeepSeek’s AI Assistant has overtaken ChatGPT to turn into the top-rated free app on Apple‘s App Retailer in the USA.