OpenAI Execs Meet Stakeholders To Discuss India’s AI Ecosystem

Artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI’s top global executives reportedly continued to meet government officials, industry bodies and policy groups on the last leg of their India visit. 

As per Business Standard, OpenAI’s top brass held two separate closed-door meetings with various groups on Thursday (February 6). Sources reportedly said that the meetings centred around understanding India’s AI and data regulation policy landscape.

“The idea of these meetings with us was to get an overview of the data and AI regulations in India. They (OpenAI executives) were trying to understand the data governance framework in India, the implications of possible AI regulations in the industry, the impact on labour and workforce due to AI, among other things,” a source reportedly said. 

Multiple OpenAI executives, including global vice-president of Engineering Srinivas Narayanan, reportedly explained the company’s products and offerings to the attendees of the meetings and underscored the importance of India in the “overall plans” of the company.  

The second meeting was reportedly attended by as many as 20-25 industry bodies and advocacy groups like Nasscom, The Quantum Hub, Broadband India Forum (BIF), The Centre for Internet & Society, among others. Representatives of law firms such as Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas also participated in the deliberations. 

As per the report, the second meeting saw OpenAI executives seek feedback from the participants on understanding India-specific use cases. The AI juggernaut’s top brass also reportedly tried to understand existing copyright laws in India and the challenges they could potentially face while expanding presence in the country.

 “They (OpenAI) have been told by Meity (ministry of electronics and information technology) that the company needs to take a decision on the localisation of data of Indian citizens. While OpenAI has not made any commitments on the same, they have assured the government that they share the concerns and would soon share their India data storage plans,” a source reportedly added.

OpenAI’s top brass also apprised the attendees on the nature of work being done by the company using its foundation models.

This comes a day after OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a closed-door meeting. The two also held a fireside chat later, where Altman called India an “incredibly important” market for the AI giant. 

The OpenAI chief executive also said that India should be one of the leaders of the AI revolution, adding that the country is the company’s second biggest market globally. He also met startup founders including the likes of ixigo’s Aloke Bajpai, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Snapdeal and Titan Capital’s cofounder Kunal Bahl, among others.

During the meeting, Indian founders urged the company’s top executives to introduce India-specific pricing and make the company’s offerings and APIs more affordable for Indian developers and companies.