India is rapidly becoming an AI powerhouse, says Sam Altman
22 Feb 2026

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has hailed India as a rapidly emerging AI powerhouse.

He made the remarks during an interview with Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group.

The discussion revolved around various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), including its rapid advancement and implications for job displacement in the IT sector.

India's transformation in the AI landscape
Progress

Altman highlighted the rapid progress of AI, noting that a year ago, systems were solving high school math problems. Now, OpenAI's latest models can tackle complex research-level mathematical problems.

He credited this advancement to researchers who developed deep learning algorithms.

Altman also noted India's transformation from an AI consumer to a hub of innovation with its Codex market becoming the fastest-growing globally.

Addressing job displacement concerns
Employment

Altman acknowledged the potential disruption caused by AI, especially in India's IT sector. He said pretending otherwise would not be beneficial.

However, he also emphasized that every technological revolution has created new opportunities.

The skills that shall remain valuable amid the AI revolution would be fluency with AI tools, resilience, adaptability, and most importantly the ability to understand how to be useful to others.

Need for global cooperation in AI development
Infrastructure

Altman stressed the need for global cooperation to build the computing power needed for India to become an AI-first society. He dismissed space-based data centers as a ridiculous idea, saying we are not there yet.

On criticism of power concentration
Criticism

Responding to criticism of power concentration, Altman said it's a fair point unless we push super hard to democratize.

He dismissed the water usage criticism as totally fake but admitted that energy consumption is a real issue and we need to move toward nuclear, wind, and solar power quickly.

This highlights the need for sustainable practices in AI development.

Concerns about AI making children dumber and AGI, ASI
Education

Altman addressed concerns about AI making children dumber, saying while some students cheat, most are amazed by their newfound capabilities.

He said the education systems will need to evolve but expressed confidence that children today will graduate high school capable of extraordinary accomplishments.

On artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial superintelligence (ASI), Altman said AGI is close and superintelligence isn't far beyond.