ChatGPT maker OpenAI will launch its first office in India, setting up in New Delhi later this year, as the company eyes to deepen its footprint in its second-largest market in terms of user numbers.
The Microsoft-backed firm has registered as a legal entity in India and has begun hiring a local team, as per a company statement shared with Reuters on Friday.
India has emerged as a critical market for ChatGPT, where it offered its cheapest monthly subscription plan globally at $4.60 just this week, aiming to reach out to the nearly one billion internet users in the region.
The expansion comes as OpenAI faces legal pushbacks in India, with news outlets and book publishers accusing the firm of using their content without permission to help train ChatGPT. The company has denied any wrongdoing.
"Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the statement.
Meanwhile, India is far from an open playground, with the company facing stiff competition from rivals like Google's Gemini and AI startup Perplexity, both of which have rolled out offerings that make their advanced plans free for many users in the Indian market.
India is home to the largest population of student users on ChatGPT, and weekly active users here have quadrupled in the past year, OpenAI said in newly shared market data on Friday.
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