Tech Mahindra MD Responds to Open AI CEO Sam Altman’s ‘Hopeless’ Comment with a ‘Challenge Accepted’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently visited India as part of his six-nation tour to explore the AI ecosystem and opportunities in different countries. During his visit, he made a controversial statement that sparked a debate among Indian entrepreneurs and tech leaders. He said that it was “pretty hopeless” for Indian companies to compete with OpenAI on training foundation models like ChatGPT, a powerful AI tool that can generate natural language texts on various topics.
He also called for global regulation of AI to ensure its ethical and responsible use. His remarks were met with a mix of criticism and challenge by some prominent Indian figures, such as Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani, who accepted the dare and expressed his confidence in India’s AI potential.
The context
ChatGPT is an AI system developed by OpenAI, a research organization co-founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk, among others. ChatGPT uses deep neural networks to learn from large amounts of text data and generate coherent and fluent texts on various domains and tasks, such as writing essays, summarizing articles, composing emails, creating stories, etc. ChatGPT is considered one of the most advanced examples of natural language generation (NLG), a subfield of AI that aims to produce natural language texts from non-linguistic inputs.
OpenAI claims that ChatGPT is a “foundation model”, meaning that it can be fine-tuned or adapted to different applications and domains with minimal data and effort. This makes ChatGPT a versatile and powerful tool that can potentially revolutionize many industries and sectors that rely on natural language processing (NLP), such as education, media, entertainment, healthcare, business, etc.
However, ChatGPT also poses some challenges and risks, such as its high computational cost, its environmental impact, its ethical implications, its social consequences, its reliability and safety issues, etc. For instance, ChatGPT can generate misleading or harmful texts that can spread misinformation or propaganda. It can also be used for malicious purposes, such as phishing, spamming, impersonating, etc. Moreover, ChatGPT can raise some philosophical and moral questions about the nature and limits of human intelligence and creativity.
The controversy
Sam Altman visited India in June 2023 as part of his six-nation tour that included China, Japan, Singapore, Israel, and the UK. He met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the need for global regulation of AI to ensure its ethical and responsible use. He also participated in an event organized by The Economic Times, where he was asked by Rajan Anandan, a former Vice President of Google in India and South East Asia and current venture capitalist, whether India can build an AI tool like ChatGPT.
Altman responded candidly, acknowledging India’s vibrant ecosystem but expressing his doubt that Indian companies can compete with OpenAI on training foundation models. He said that it was “pretty hopeless” for Indian companies to try to do so with a budget of $10 million. He also encouraged Indian entrepreneurs to undertake the challenge anyway.
His reply was shared on Twitter by CP Gurnani, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra, one of India’s leading IT services companies. Gurnani conveyed his acceptance of the challenge and his determination to prove Altman wrong. He tweeted:
OpenAI founder Sam Altman said it’s pretty hopeless for Indian companies to try and compete with them. Dear @sama, From one CEO to another… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
His tweet went viral and received many responses from other Indian tech leaders and enthusiasts who supported his stance and expressed their confidence in India’s AI potential.
Altman later clarified his statement on Twitter, saying that it was taken out of context and that he meant that it was hopeless for Indian companies to compete with OpenAI with a budget of $10 million. He also said that he still encouraged Indian entrepreneurs to try anyway. He added that the right question was not how to compete with OpenAI but how to create something new and valuable with AI that has never been done before. He said:
The right question is what a startup can do that’s never been done before, that will contribute a new thing to the world. i have no doubt indian startups can and will do that! and no one but the builders can answer that question.
The analysis
The controversy sparked by Altman’s statement reflects the growing interest and competition in the field of AI, especially in natural language generation. It also highlights the challenges and opportunities that India faces in developing and deploying AI solutions that can benefit its society and economy.
On one hand, India has some advantages that can help it leverage AI for its development and innovation. India has a large and diverse population of 1.3 billion people, with a median age of 28 years. India has a vibrant and dynamic startup ecosystem, with over 50,000 startups and 38 unicorns as of 2023. India has a strong talent pool of engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, with over 1.5 million graduates in STEM fields every year. India has a rich and diverse culture and language landscape, with 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects. India has a huge market potential, with over 700 million internet users and over 1 billion mobile phone users as of 2023.
On the other hand, India also faces some challenges that can hinder its AI progress and adoption. India has a low per capita income of $2,000 as of 2023, with high levels of poverty, inequality, and unemployment. India has a low investment in R&D, with only 0.7% of its GDP spent on R&D as of 2020. India has a low quality of education, with poor infrastructure, curriculum, and outcomes in many schools and colleges. India has a low digital literacy, with many people lacking access to or awareness of digital tools and services. India has a complex and diverse regulatory environment, with varying laws and policies across different states and sectors.
Therefore, India needs to overcome these challenges and leverage its advantages to harness the power of AI for its development and innovation. India needs to invest more in R&D, especially in AI-related fields such as NLP, computer vision, speech recognition, etc. India needs to improve its education system, especially in STEM fields, and foster a culture of curiosity, creativity, and collaboration among its students and teachers. India needs to increase its digital literacy and access, especially among its rural and marginalized communities, and provide them with affordable and reliable digital tools and services. India needs to create a conducive and consistent regulatory environment for AI, that balances the need for innovation and the need for ethics.
The conclusion
The controversy sparked by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s statement that it was “pretty hopeless” for Indian companies to compete with OpenAI on training foundation models like ChatGPT has generated a debate among Indian entrepreneurs and tech leaders about India’s AI potential. While some have accepted the challenge and expressed their confidence in India’s AI capabilities, others have questioned the relevance and feasibility of competing with OpenAI on ChatGPT. Altman himself has clarified his statement and encouraged Indian startups to create something new and valuable with AI that has never been done before.
The controversy reflects the growing interest and competition in the field of AI, especially in natural language generation. It also highlights the challenges and opportunities that India faces in developing and deploying AI solutions that can benefit its society and economy. India needs to overcome its challenges and leverage its advantages to harness the power of AI for its development and innovation.
