Sam Altman In India: 'Cost Of AI Will Drop 10x In A Year, India Should Lead Innovation'

The cost of artificial intelligence is expected to decrease tenfold in a year, compared to semiconductor chips where it dropped by half every year, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said during his visit to Delhi on February 5.

In a conversation with Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the OpenAI CEO said that India is the second largest market for the AI major and should take the lead in driving AI innovation.

Altman emphasised India's expanding role in AI innovation, noting that developers are actively creating tools built on ChatGPT.

In a fireside chat with the Union Minister, they discussed AI cost reduction and upcoming opportunities for Indian startups. 

Altman stressed that AI models are on the verge of transformative applications, suggesting that AI-powered tutors and medical diagnosis tools could become a reality if developers actively build solutions using OpenAI’s technology. 

However, he warned that AI is still in the research phase, noting that while the models are not yet capable of curing diseases like cancer, they have the potential to enhance the efficiency of deep research.

As cybersecurity is another major concern, Altman mentioned that there will be good and bad impacts of this technology but we have to go ahead anyway. 

As per the reports, it is estimated that in the coming years AI is going to contribute around 40 % of the total world GDP. 

Vaishnaw in this regard said that India has been a quick adopter of technology, hence the data set provided by all these existing AI models will assist India to build our model incorporating cultural nuances. 

He also assured that innovation by young entrepreneurs and researchers will help India lower the cost of building AI models. Citing India's moon mission, he highlighted how the country successfully achieved it at a fraction of the cost incurred by other nations.

In addition, Vaishnaw noted that India is actively striving to bring in cost-efficient innovation comparatively to other nations and he reiterated that every year we see 10 times reduction in AI cost and indian government is integrating AI in diverse sectors like weather forecasting and traffic management 

India's  strategic AI Mission aims to establish the country as a global leader in artificial intelligence by fostering innovation, research, and ethical deployment of AI technologies. 

The mission envisioned to develop indigenous AI models that incorporate India’s cultural and linguistic diversity while ensuring affordability.