OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, made its first hire in India, selecting a head of government relations concurrently with the nation's election of a new government that will shape artificial intelligence regulation in India.  

Pragya Misra was hired by the Microsoft Corp.-backed startup to head partnerships and public policy relations in India, according to people familiar with the situation who asked to remain anonymous since the appointment isn't yet official. Misra, 39, will begin working at OpenAI at the end of the month.  

OpenAI's hire in India is a testament to the company's proactive stance in advocating for favourable AI regulations. As global governments grapple with the management of rapidly advancing technology, OpenAI is taking steps to shape the discourse and ensure regulations that foster innovation and responsible AI use.  

With 1.4 billion people and a rapidly expanding economy, India presents a huge growth opportunity for international tech companies. However, because of lawmakers and regulators looking to protect local businesses from being trampled, India has proven to be challenging to traverse.  

At the Stockholm-traded contact verification company Truecaller, which has India as one of its major markets, Misra oversaw public affairs in the past. She oversaw WhatsApp's 2018 campaign against false information when she was employed at Meta Platforms Inc. before that.  

Google, a division of Alphabet Inc., is one of OpenAI's competitors in India; it is creating an AI model tailored for the nation. With its product's ability to support over 100 local languages for both speech and text, internet access will be expanded beyond the nation's metropolitan English-speaking minority. 

 During his visit to India last year, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman stated that nations like India should fund AI research in ways that would enhance public services like health care.  

At the time, Altman stated, "I think the most important thing is figuring out how to integrate these technologies into other services." "I believe governments are lagging behind in that area and do not yet have the answers." 

Source: Bloomberg

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