Recently, Open AI CEO and creator of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, was in India as part of his six-nation tour. During his visit, he interacted with the students of the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-D) and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Altman was also a part of a conversation organised by the Economic Times. This was when a question was posed to Altman about India building something like ChatGPT. To this, the tech leader asserted that it would be “totally hopeless” for India to try and build something similar to ChatGPT.
Also Read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says India can try to build ChatGPT-like tools but it will most likely fail
A day after Altman expressed his views, his comments went viral on social media. Reacting to Altman’s comments, the CEO of Tech Mahindra, C.P. Gurnani, took to Twitter and tweeted, “Challenge Accepted.”
Sam Altman, however, responded to the same, asserting that his comments had been taken out of context. Altman tweeted, “This is really taken out of context! The question was about competing with us with $10 million, which I really do not think is going to work. But I still said try! However, I think it’s the wrong question.” He further expanded in another tweet, claiming that the right question is what a startup can do that has not been done before, and that is something that will contribute something new to the world. Sam Altman explained that he did not have any doubts about what an Indian startup could do.
On June 8, 2023, a Thursday, Altman was asked for his advice on how one can develop things like OpenAI and ChatGPT in India at an event. Rajan Anandan, who is a venture capitalist and former CEO of Google India, asked the question to Sam Altman. However, the reports suggested that Altman avoided discussing the skills possessed or lacked by Indians and simply hinted at the lack of infrastructure in India. Further, his response suggested that building something like ChatGPT in India would be impossible since it would require a specific type of infrastructure. Also, developing something similar will be a great challenge since OpenAI has already created ChatGPT and will always be one step ahead.
Also Read: Sam Altman, PM Modi talk AI regulation
The primary focus of Sam Altman’s visit was artificial intelligence (AI). His visit came at a time when the Indian government is looking to utilise conversational AI tools that could help the farmers learn about different government schemes, understand customer grievances, and perform other citizen-focused duties. The government is looking at AI as an aid to its administrative tasks.
