OpenAI's Sam Altman feels India can ‘help shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale’, outlines three near-term steps

Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI feels that India has all the ingredients to be a full-stack leader in artificial intelligence and can “help shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale”. In an article for The Times of India, Altman outlined three near-term steps that could “make the difference” in helping Indians “unlock AI’s transformative power”.

This came ahead of the tech chief's visit to India next week for the India-AI Impact Summit, set to be held from Monday to Friday, 16-20 February 2026 in New Delhi — the first global AI summit to be hosted in the ‘Global South’.

‘India has all the ingredients to be a full-stack AI leader’

According to Altman, India has “all the ingredients to be a full-stack AI leader”, he noted that the upcoming Summit will focus on expanding AI access for more people as quickly as possible, noting that as of February, India has 100 million weekly active users on ChatGPT — second only to the United States.

He added that India also has the highest number of students on ChatGPT and ranks fourth globally in use of Prism (the company's free tool for scientific research and collaboration), calling it a sign of “clear” momentum.

“Access is the admission ticket; without it, people and institutions cannot participate fully in the AI era,” Altman noted, stressing the need to improve access, adoption and agency for more users so that they can “participate… as builders and beneficiaries” of AI growth.

‘Critical to get balance between access and adoption’

According to Altman, as the world's largest democracy, India has “all the ingredients to be a full-stack AI leader: optimism about what AI can do for the country, homegrown tech talent, and a national strategy for how to incorporate the technology more widely.”

He feels that the country needs to use AI to drive human progress and that the government's IndiaAI Mission can provide impetus for applications across agriculture, healthcare, public service delivery and startups. “It’s critical to get that balance right. If AI access and adoption are uneven, AI’s upside will be uneven, too. Many people may have access to the tools, but far fewer will know how to use them well enough to translate that access into real gains,” he noted.

‘Committed to help build AI in India, with India, and for India’

Altman said that OpenAI is “committed to doing its part to help build AI in India, with India, and for India”. He feels that the country brings optimism about AI and is well positioned to broaden who benefits from the technology and to help shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale.

“We’ve made our tools available for free so they’re accessible to Indians regardless of their income, education, or familiarity with technology. We’re also focused on practical, near-term steps that can be taken now to help Indians unlock AI’s transformative power,” he added.

What are these three steps that can make a difference? According to Altman — building the infrastructure, fully integrating AI into real workflows, and improving AI literacy.

• AI literacy at scale: Altman emphasised the need for practical fluency in coding, knowledge work, and other real-world uses of AI among students and workers so that they “develop both AI skills and confidence in their ability to use them. This is how access turns into adoption, and how adoption turns into agency”.
• Infrastructure that makes adoption possible at national scale: Noting that countries that build AI infrastructure would be better positioned to shape the tech's future, Altman feels India can build those foundations and realise more of its upside.
• Integration into real workflows: He added that using AI to help people with their work, rather than making AI another task to complete is integral. “Put AI to work in classrooms, clinics, small businesses, and public services, and it can increase productivity, expand the frontiers of what is possible, and deliver tangible value quickly,” he wrote.