India has become one of OpenAI’s biggest markets, with 100 million people using ChatGPT each week, CEO Sam Altman said ahead of a government-backed AI summit

Writing in The Times of India on Sunday, Altman pointed to ChatGPT’s rapid rise in India as the company prepares to take part in the five-day India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. He will attend alongside senior leaders from some of the world’s top AI firms.

As global AI companies chase growth, India’s young population and more than a billion internet users have made it a critical market. OpenAI opened a New Delhi office in August 2025 after months of preparation and has tailored its strategy for the country’s price-sensitive users. That includes launching a sub-$5 ChatGPT Go plan, which was later made free for a year in India.

Altman said India is now ChatGPT’s second-largest market after the United States, underlining its importance to OpenAI’s global plans. Worldwide, ChatGPT has seen explosive growth, reaching 800 million weekly active users as of October 2025 and nearing 900 million.

Students are a major driver of that expansion. Altman noted that India has the highest number of student ChatGPT users anywhere in the world.

Competition for those users is intensifying. Google has also targeted Indian students, offering a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan in September 2025. India has become the largest market globally for Gemini’s education use, according to Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager for education.

In his article, Altman said India’s focus on broad access, practical AI literacy and digital infrastructure positions it to shape how “democratic AI” develops at scale.

Still, turning rapid adoption into long-term economic gains remains a challenge. Government programs such as the IndiaAI Mission aim to expand computing capacity, support startups and drive AI use in public services. But India’s cost-conscious market and infrastructure gaps make monetization and large-scale rollout more complex than in wealthier economies.

Altman also suggested deeper collaboration with the Indian government is coming, saying OpenAI will soon announce new partnerships to expand AI access across the country, though he did not provide details.

The India AI Impact Summit is set to draw a broad mix of tech and political leaders, including Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sundar Pichai, Indian business leaders Mukesh Ambani and Nandan Nilekani, as well as political figures such as Emmanuel Macron, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The gathering reflects India’s growing ambition to play a central role in shaping the global AI agenda.

For OpenAI and its rivals, India’s vast and fast-growing user base is increasingly influencing how AI products are built, priced and deployed worldwide.