Recently, Indian entrepreneurs and OpenAI executives held a closed-door meeting in Delhi to discuss the pricing and development strategies of AI models in the Indian market. OpenAI CEO Ultraman Sam and his team have had in-depth exchanges with several Indian technology leaders, aiming to promote the popularization and application of AI technology in India.
Recently, several Indian entrepreneurs held a closed-door meeting with OpenAI CEO Ultraman and his leadership team in Delhi. Participants agreed that OpenAI's AI model is too priced in India and it is recommended that regional pricing be set that meets the local market in order to better support India's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
India’s importance in the global AI ecosystem is becoming increasingly prominent. Ultraman said at the conference that India is OpenAI's second largest market with a strong team of developers and entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs attended the meeting include Kunal Bahel, co-founder of Snapdeal, Vijay Shekar Shanma, founder of Paytm, and Goraf Menjar, founder of online education platform Unacademy, etc. They shared their views on OpenAI products and discussed how to use OpenAI models to support the development of local Indian companies.
Bacher said on social media that the OpenAI team is aware of its high pricing and the need for price cuts to enable wider market adoption. At the same time, he pointed out that the efficiency of the basic model can reach 80%-90%, but in order to better adapt to the needs of specific industries, a strong application layer is needed. HealthifyMe founder Tushar Vahisht also mentioned at the meeting that health coaches, mentors and doctors who combine artificial intelligence will be launched in India and around the world.
Indian Minister of Information Technology Ashwini Vishnaf mentioned in the meeting that young Indians have great potential in promoting innovation, and he compared this with India's lunar exploration mission "Moonship", emphasizing hope. The same determination and efficiency can be demonstrated in developing large language models.
When talking about the price, Ultraman said that the cost of AI training will continue to rise, but the returns brought by intelligence will continue to increase. He promised to continue tailoring solutions for the Indian market. The conference is backdrop for the AI lab from China, DeepSeek, is offering AI models comparable to OpenAI, Meta and Google at significantly lower prices, putting competitive pressure on OpenAI.
When attendees discussed API pricing, Paytm founder Shanma noted that although Ultraman did not have a clear commitment, he said open source and cost-reducing options were under consideration. In fact, Ultraman recently admitted in Reddit's Q&A that AI will gradually develop in the direction of open source in the future.
The popularity of AI in India needs to be based on user-friendly and affordable pricing. OpenAI's current ChatGPT Pro charges $200 per month, which seems quite high at the average income level in India. Experts believe that in order for AI to play a substantial role in daily life in India, it is necessary to pay attention to the generation of localized content.
Key points:
Indian entrepreneurs meet with senior OpenAI leaders and call for lowering the price of AI models to promote popularity.
OpenAI acknowledges its high pricing issues and considers adjusting to market demand in India.
Competition intensifies, and the Indian market needs more localized AI solutions to meet user needs.
This conference provides an important reference for the future development of OpenAI in the Indian market and also lays the foundation for the deep integration of Indian entrepreneurs with global AI technology.