MC EXCLUSIVE Incredible small language AI models emerging at low costs in India: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

There are 'incredible' small language artificial intelligence models emerging in India at lower costs, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of India AI Impact Summit on February 19.

He was referring to a series of indigenous AI models launched in India yesterday from companies like Sarvam, Gnani.ai, and BharatGen.

Altman's comments comes even as the complexity and the costs of developing a frontier model have gone up.

The OpenAI co-founder had stirred controversy a few years ago by saying that companies cannot build frontier models for $10 million.

Altman said his comment was 'taken out of context' at the time. "The question was not, did I think India or anywhere else could compete with frontier models. It was, 'Could you do it for $10 million?'"

"I didn't think then, and I don't think now, that you can make a frontier model for $10 million. In fact, if anything, I would just say that it's gotten harder, and the total complexity and costs have gone up," Altman said.

OpenAI and its rivals Google, Meta, and Microsoft are pouring billions of dollars to build cutting-edge frontier models to compete in the ongoing AI arms race.

Altman, however, said that we will continue to see models for narrow applications created for "smaller and smaller amounts of money. You see more companies do that well."

The OpenAI chief is visiting India after a year to attend the summit, joined by key OpenAI leaders including COO Brad Lightcap, Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, and Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji.

Altman told Moneycontrol that the 'building energy in India is quite remarkable'.

"I've never seen a total amount of energy relentlessly attacking a problem across the entire stack as anywhere but here," he said.

The awkward exchange with Anthropic's Dario Amodei

Altman also addressed the awkward exchange with Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei on stage while posing for a group photo with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the fourth day of the summit.

“I was sort of confused, like when he (PM Modi) grabbed my hand and put it up, and I just wasn't sure what we were supposed to be doing” he said.

Tensions have recently escalated between the two companies, with Anthropic running Super Bowl ads that mocked OpenAI’s move to introduce ads into ChatGPT. Altman had responded by calling the campaign "clearly dishonest" and "on brand for Anthropic doublespeak".

Earlier today, OpenAI announced plans to expand its presence with new offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai, alongside its existing Delhi office. This comes shortly after Anthropic opened its first India office in Bengaluru earlier in the week.