AI has unlocked unprecedented opportunities for 25-year-olds in India: Sam Altman on Nikhil Kamath's podcast

Sam Altman argued that the coming three to five years offered an 'open canvas' for entrepreneurs and job-seekers alike.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has said that young professionals in Indian cities such as Bengaluru and Mumbai have more scope to shape their futures today than any generation before them, crediting artificial intelligence with opening unprecedented possibilities.

Speaking to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath on his "WTF podcast", Altman likened the present AI shift to the computer revolution of his youth, but with far greater reach for individuals and small teams. “People are now limited only by the quality and creativity of their ideas,” he said, pointing to AI’s impact on coding, speeding up scientific progress, and creating entirely new categories of software.

He argued that the coming three to five years offered an “open canvas” for entrepreneurs and jobseekers alike. “The rate at which one person can achieve things that previously took decades of experience or large teams is remarkable,” he said. Opportunities, he added, were expanding across technology, start-ups, and creative industries.

When asked about OpenAI’s next model, Altman described GPT-5as “another big step forward” in performance, reliability and versatility, enabling users to learn more rapidly, work more productively, and take on a range of everyday and professional tasks. He said the system could help a founder in India “write the software for a product, handle customer support, draft marketing plans, even review legal documents” — all functions once dependent on specialised teams.

Altman also emphasised India’s growing importance to OpenAI. The country is now its second-largest market, he revealed, and could soon be the largest. Feedback from Indian users has already led to product changes, including improved support for local languages and lower-cost access. “If there is one large society in the world that seems most enthusiastic to transform with AI right now, it’s India,” he told Kamath, praising the country’s energy and speed in adopting AI tools.

Pressed to imagine the outlook for a 25-year-old in Mumbai or Bengaluru, Altman was emphatic: “I think this is probably the most exciting time to be starting out one’s career, maybe ever.”

The discussion also touched on broader social questions. Altman described becoming a parent as “the coolest, most amazing, most emotionally overwhelming experience,” adding that it had been even more rewarding than he had anticipated. In a future shaped by artificial general intelligence, he argued, family and community life should regain central importance. “It’s a problem for society that those things have been in retreat,” he said, expressing hope that greater abundance and free time might encourage people to return to what brings them the most fulfilment.