Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and creator of ChatGPT, was in India for the last couple of days. His visit was focused largely on artificial intelligence (AI). Meeting with the students of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi on Thursday, June 8, 2023, for a one-on-one session with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, the 38-year-old techie’s emphasis was on the AI tool. His visit to India comes at a time when the country is coming up with AI regulations through the Digital India Bill, which has been under work since the previous year. However, it was the tech leader’s one comment that caught the eye of the Indians.
Also Read: ChatGPT arrives with a big update for iOS users: support for iPad, Siri, and other details
On Thursday, Sam Altman was found to assert that even if Indians tried to build something like ChatGPT, they would be “totally hopeless” in doing so. Taking note of the fact that the country can sometimes not be an easy place for techies, especially if they are used to speaking their hearts without being responsible enough to know if they are right or wrong, Sam Altman’s comments went viral on social media a day after the former made his comments.
On Thursday, while he was in India as part of his visit to Asia, Altman made his remarks. Altman was asked for advice and insight on how one could start to develop things like OpenAI and ChatGPT in India at an event hosted by the Economic Times. Rajan Anandan, a venture capitalist and former CEO of Google India, posed the query.
However, reports suggest that Altman was suggesting a lack of infrastructure in India, and now that OpenAI has built something like ChatGPT, it will always be one step ahead. Altman claimed that it would be impossible to create a tool like ChatGPT for a user in India since doing so would necessitate the development of a specific type of infrastructure. More importantly, Altman made it clear in his response that building a foundational AI model for a startup is not only challenging but also nearly impossible given that OpenAI has already created ChatGPT, which is driven by a massive LLM (large language model). Altman avoided discussing the skills Indians possess or lack in his response.
According to reports, Sam Altman’s visit to India also comes at a time when the Indian government is looking for conversational AI tools that could help the latter in its administrative tasks. The government is looking for aid for the farmers in learning about different government schemes, understanding customer grievances, and performing other citizen-focused duties.
Also Read: ChatGPT maker OpenAI bats for crowdsourced AI regulation with new grant program
Reportedly, when the creator of ChatGPT was asked about his meeting with PM Modi, he said, “He (the PM) was so enthusiastic and really thoughtful about AI and the benefits of it. We asked why India has embraced ChatGPT so much and so early. It’s really been fun for us to watch. He had great answers about that.” Sam Altman further added, “We talked about the opportunities in front of the country, what the country should do, and also the need to think about global regulation to make sure we prevent some of the downsides from happening—but it was a great hour.”