OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Meets PM Modi, Discusses Need for Global Regulation of AI

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, whose company deals with artificial intelligence technologies and has created ChatGPT, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in New Delhi on Thursday and discussed the need for global regulation.

Altman is on a six-nation tour this week. Besides India, he was set to be in Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, and South Korea.

During a session at IIIT Delhi, Altman said they discussed about the opportunities in front of the country and what the country should do in AI.

"We also felt the need to think about global regulation, which prevents some of the downsides from happening," Altman said.

Altman said that his company was currently doing self-regulation.

"We spent almost 8 months on GPT for making sure that it was safe enough to release. We build the technology, and we have worked with organisations to figure out what the limits should be and tested them all. We do think that coordination is important. So self-regulation is important. It is something that we want to offer. The world should not be left entirely in the hands of the companies," Altman said at the session.

Talking about his plan for India, Altman said that the first thing he will do in India is to fund startups.

"We were always amazed and quite grateful for the quality of Indian startups," he said, adding that he had met some startups in India.

Given India's strong IT industry and a large set of data, AI-based utilities can leverage huge potential in the country. However, AI is still in its early stages.

"Thank you for the insightful conversation @sama. The potential of AI in enhancing India's tech ecosystem is indeed vast and that too among the youth in particular. We welcome all collaborations that can accelerate our digital transformation for empowering our citizens," PM Modi wrote on Twitter.

The government quoting NASSCOM data in February this year said the overall AI employment in India is estimated at about 416,000 professionals. The growth rate for the sector is estimated at about 20-25 percent.

Further, AI is expected to contribute an additional USD 957 billion to India's economy by 2035.

Many nations the world over have been using AI technologies for better service delivery and to reduce human intervention but fears of job cuts remain as the technology evolves.