CEO Sam Altman said ahead of the government-sponsored AI Summit that India has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users and the country is one of the world’s largest markets for OpenAI.
On Sunday, Altman outlined the growing adoption of ChatGPT in India in an article published in India’s English-language daily Times of India, as OpenAI prepares to formally participate in the five-day India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi starting Monday. Altman is attending the event along with senior executives from some of the world’s largest AI companies.
This growth comes as OpenAI, like other leading AI companies, looks to drive global expansion to India’s youth population and over 1 billion internet users. After months of groundwork in India, the ChatGPT maker opened a New Delhi office in August 2025 and later tailored its approach to India’s price-sensitive market, including rolling out a sub-$5 ChatGPT Go tier that was free for a year for Indian users.
In the article, Altman said that India is ChatGPT’s second-largest user base after the United States, underscoring the growing importance of the South Asian country in OpenAI’s global strategy. The disclosure comes as overall usage of ChatGPT is rapidly increasing around the world, with the platform reportedly reaching 800 million weekly active users as of October 2025 and approaching 900 million.
Altman also emphasized the role of students in promoting adoption, noting that India has the highest number of student users of ChatGPT in the world.
Indian students have become a key growth segment for the broader AI giants as competitors race to incorporate their tools into classrooms and learning workflows. Google is targeting the market as well, offering a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan to Indian students in September 2025. Separately, India has the highest usage rate of Gemini in learning in the world, Chris Phillips, Google’s vice president and general manager of education, said last month.
“With its focus on access, practical AI literacy, and infrastructure that supports widespread adoption, India is well-positioned to broaden the number of people who can benefit from the technology and help shape the way democratic AI is deployed at scale,” Altman wrote.
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ChatGPT’s rapid growth also highlights broader challenges for Indian AI companies to translate widespread adoption into sustainable economic impact. Indian government initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission, a national program aimed at expanding computing capacity, supporting start-ups, and accelerating the adoption of AI in public services, seek to address these gaps. However, the country’s price-sensitive market and infrastructure constraints make monetization and large-scale deployment more complex than in developed countries.
“Given India’s size, we also risk missing out on important opportunities to advance democratic AI in emerging markets around the world,” Altman said, warning that uneven access and adoption could concentrate the economic benefits of AI in too few hands.
Altman also hinted that OpenAI plans to deepen its engagement with the Indian government, writing that it will soon announce new partnerships aimed at expanding access to AI across India. He declined to provide further details, but said he would focus on broadening the scope and making AI tools practical for more people.
The India AI Impact Summit is expected to attract a wide range of global technology and political leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and senior Indian business figures such as Mukesh Ambani and Nandan Nilekani. Political leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will also be in attendance, highlighting India’s ambitions to establish itself as a central player in the global AI debate.
For global AI companies, including OpenAI, the summit will highlight how India’s vast user base is transforming into a growing influence on technology evolution.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.
