OpenAI’s chief Sam Altman will visit India today (Wednesday), in what will be his first visit in two years at a time when the company faces legal challenges in the country. Among others, Altman is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and minister of electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The visit, which is part of Altman’s ongoing tour of Asia, comes a few days after the emergence of Chinese AI rival DeepSeek. The Chinese firm’s AI Assistant has overtaken ChatGPT to become the top-rated free app on Apple’s App Store in the US.
On Monday, OpenAI and SoftBank Group announced it would set up a joint venture to sell AI services to businesses across Japan, one of the broadest efforts yet to sell the fast-growing startup’s tools to enterprise customers outside of the US..
Altman visited India in 2023 when he met Modi in New Delhi and discussed the potential of AI in boosting India’s tech ecosystem.
Since then, OpenAI has faced several legal challenges in India. A lawsuit against it claiming breaches of copyright began last year after local news agency ANI challenged it in a New Delhi court.
India is its second-largest market by number of users, after the US, OpenAI has said. With OpenAI facing challenges from China, Altman may be looking at opportunities in India to invest and diversify.
OpenAI has said it only uses publicly available data in a manner protected by fair use principles, and has said Indian courts have no jurisdiction to hear the matter.