BENGALURU, Aug 22 (Reuters) – OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced plans to open its first office in India later this year, marking a significant expansion into its second-largest market by user base.
Backed by Microsoft (MSFT.O), OpenAI has officially registered as a legal entity in India and has already started recruiting for its local team, the company confirmed in a statement shared with Reuters on Friday.
India represents a vital growth opportunity for OpenAI, which recently rolled out its most affordable subscription plan yet, priced at $4.60 per month, aiming to reach the nation’s nearly one billion internet users.
The company is also facing ongoing legal scrutiny in India, with media organizations and publishers alleging that OpenAI used their content without authorization to train ChatGPT. OpenAI has firmly denied these allegations.
“Launching our first office and building a local team is a crucial step toward making advanced AI widely accessible across India and developing AI solutions both for India and with India,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Competition in the Indian AI market is heating up, with major players like Google’s Gemini and AI startup Perplexity offering advanced features at little to no cost for local users.
India now accounts for the largest number of student users on ChatGPT, with weekly active usage quadrupling over the past year, according to OpenAI’s latest market data.
