Recently, several entrepreneurs from India held a closed-door meeting in Delhi with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his leadership team. The attendees unanimously agreed that OpenAI's AI models are priced too high in India and suggested establishing regional pricing that aligns with the local market to better support India's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
India's importance in the global AI ecosystem is increasingly prominent. Altman stated in the meeting that India is OpenAI's second-largest market, with a strong team of developers and entrepreneurs. Among the entrepreneurs present were Kunal Bahl, co-founder of Snapdeal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, and Gaurav Munjal, founder of the online education platform Unacademy. They shared their views on OpenAI's products and discussed how to leverage OpenAI's models to support the development of local businesses in India.
Bahl expressed on social media that the OpenAI team recognizes the necessity of reducing their high pricing to achieve broader market adoption. He also noted that the efficiency of base models can reach 80%-90%, but to better cater to specific industry needs, a robust application layer must be built. Tushar Vashisht, founder of HealthifyMe, also mentioned at the meeting that AI-powered health coaches, mentors, and doctors will be launched in India and globally.
India's Minister of Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, remarked during the meeting that Indian youth have tremendous potential in driving innovation, comparing this to India's lunar exploration mission "Chandrayaan," emphasizing the hope that similar determination and efficiency can be demonstrated in the development of large language models.
When discussing pricing, Altman stated that the costs of AI training will continue to rise, but the returns brought by intelligence will also increase. He promised to continue tailoring solutions for the Indian market. The backdrop of this meeting is the competitive pressure on OpenAI from the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, which is offering AI models comparable to those of OpenAI, Meta, and Google at significantly lower prices.
During discussions on API pricing, Paytm's founder Sharma pointed out that although Altman did not make a clear commitment, he mentioned that options for open sourcing and reducing costs are being considered. In fact, Altman recently acknowledged in a Reddit Q&A that AI will gradually move towards open-source in the future.
The proliferation of AI in India requires user-friendly and affordable pricing. Currently, OpenAI's ChatGPT Pro costs $200 per month, which is quite high given India's average income level. Experts believe that for AI to play a substantial role in everyday life in India, generating localized content must be prioritized.
Key Points:
🌍 Indian entrepreneurs meet with OpenAI executives, calling for lower AI model prices to promote adoption.
💡 OpenAI acknowledges its high pricing issue and is considering adjustments based on Indian market demands.
🤖 Competition intensifies; the Indian market needs more localized AI solutions to meet user needs.