“Countries like India are critical to AI’s future, and India has the most critical ingredients…some of the most impressive technology talent in the world, a track record of developing impressive technology businesses and a focus on competing on the global stage,” she said.
“…which is why I am delighted to announce today that we will hold a developer gathering with our vice president of engineering Srinivas Narayanan in Bangalore in January with more to follow,” Makanju said, adding that the company’s plan is to convene developers here in India to work alongside OpenAI product leaders with an aim to “address some of the most difficult product and safety challenges”.
She was speaking at the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit in New Delhi.
Makanju said she had visited India earlier this year along with OpenAI cofounder and chief executive Sam Altman during his global tour.
“Our visit to India resulted in real, concrete changes in how we do our work… most importantly it led to a focus on cost associated with our tools and this will have real benefits for people across the world and India to have access to our tools and technology,” she said.
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During his visit, Altman also attended The Economic Times Conversations event, where he interacted with a select audience of CEOs and founders from India’s top technology startups, policymakers, in addition to senior business leaders.Last month, OpenAI went through an upheaval with Altman being sacked by the company’s board of directors, only to return as CEO just days after his ouster.
“It’s been a turbulent month at Open AI…in the wake of the events last month, we have become even more focused on advancing AI safety and building AI capacity to benefit the world,” Makanju said here.
She also spoke about the work OpenAI is doing with farmer welfare organisation Digital Green, which is working with India’s agriculture ministry to reduce the cost of agricultural extension services. “They’re able to do this by using a chatbot…that provides on-demand location-specific guidance in several languages including Hindi, Assamese, Kannada, Telugu, Bhojpuri and English. This tool is going to be available in 10 states in early 2024, and from there we aim to make it available to all of India,” she added.
