OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expected to meet PM Modi for AI talks, MeitY Secretary tells CNBC-TV18

Krishnan mentioned that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is set to visit India this week, is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), during a conversation with CNBC TV18's Shereen Bhan, shared on Tuesday that the Indian government is working to find a balance between utilizing open-source models and leveraging existing models, such as those from OpenAI, to develop the country's first foundational AI model.

Speaking at an exclusive panel discussion at CNBC-TV18's ‘Budget 2025' event, Krishnan mentioned that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is set to visit India this week, is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss the potential applications of OpenAI's technologies.
Krishnan said that the government is open to the idea of collaborating with OpenAI, but it is important to note that ChatGPT is not an open-source model. "Our models will have to be built on open-source foundations," he said.

Krishnan referred to DeepSeek as an example of a hybrid AI development approach, where elements of existing models can be adapted and built upon."DeepSeek has shown that you can take certain parts of another model and then build on that," he explained.

However, he recognized a major challenge regarding the uncertainty of the training data used in the original models. He also raised concerns about data privacy, stating, "If you use DeepSeek as an app, it's likely that the data travels to their servers."

To address this issue, Krishnan proposed a solution: "We can pick up DeepSeek, host it on Indian servers, so that data stays here in India." This approach would safeguard sensitive data within the country while making use of advanced AI capabilities.

As talks with OpenAI approach, the focus is on building a strong AI ecosystem in India, while ensuring a balance between encouraging innovation and protecting data security and sovereignty.