OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bets big on India’s AI future

India is quickly becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Sam spoke about the country being the “world’s most aggressive adopter of AI,” soon to become the biggest market for Codex, OpenAI’s “specialised system for computer programming.”

There has never been a time like this: Sam Altman

The rate of innovation is nothing short of phenomenal. Sam pointed out that just two years ago, AI was struggling with high school math, but now it is working on research-level problems and discovering new challenges that have never been seen before by human minds. This rapid progress is soon to unleash an “entrepreneurial explosion” in the Indian tech community.

“There has never been a time like this,” Sam said, emphasizing the fact that one software engineer working with AI can now do the work of an entire team of people in the traditional model. He thinks that this allows small startups and individuals to compete with world giants, which has created a special “creative momentum” in the entire subcontinent.

The 'OpenAI for India' Initiative

To cement this relationship, Sam made an announcement regarding the ‘OpenAI for India’ initiative. The initiative is designed to develop AI "with India, for India, and in India" by keeping in mind the infrastructure and talent available in the country. The highlight of this initiative is the historic partnership with the Tata Group, which is the foundation of this approach.

OpenAI will partner with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to create data centres that are AI-ready. This will ensure that the models run with lower latency and are able to meet the stringent data residency and security requirements in the country. Additionally, TCS is also planning to roll out ChatGPT Enterprise to its enormous employee base, which will be one of the largest enterprise AI deployments in the world.

As India already boasts over 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, the focus now shifts to sovereign AI capabilities. By investing in workforce upskilling and domestic infrastructure, Sam is confident that India is perfectly positioned to shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale.

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