OpenAI Chief Sam Altman Plans Visit to India Amid Legal Challenges

Key Points:

  • Sam Altman, the chief of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, is planning his first visit to India in two years, scheduled for February 5, according to sources.
  • The visit may include meetings with Indian government officials and is aimed at strengthening OpenAI’s presence in India, which is its second-largest market by user base after the United States.
  • Altman’s 2023 visit involved discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the role of AI in India’s tech ecosystem.
  • OpenAI faces legal challenges in India, including a copyright infringement lawsuit initiated by ANI, India’s news agency, which claims OpenAI has violated copyright laws.
  • The lawsuit has attracted support from Indian book publishers and prominent media outlets. OpenAI maintains it uses publicly available data under fair use principles and disputes Indian jurisdiction over the case.
  • The legal issues come amid growing competition from DeepSeek, a Chinese AI rival that recently surpassed ChatGPT in the Apple App Store in the United States.