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OpenAI is expanding its footprint in India and entering the country’s higher education sector through partnerships with leading institutions. The move comes as the South Asian country looks to boost its AI capabilities and boost domestic talent in one of the world’s biggest markets for talent.
On Wednesday, OpenAI said it is partnering with six public and private schools in India, including advanced technology, management, medical, and design-based, with the goal of reaching more than 100,000 students, faculty, and staff over the next year.
Rather than focusing on consumer applications, the initiative focuses on integrating AI into major academic applications, demonstrating OpenAI’s interest in how AI is taught, controlled, and embedded within one of the world’s leading academic institutions.
OpenAI has already built a large consumer audience for its ChatGPT chatbot, which is now obsolete 100 million monthly users in India, according to CEO Sam Altman, and India has become the second largest user industry after the US The announcement also coincides with a strong push by leading AI companies to increase their presence in India, which has AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week.
The first group of partners includes some of the highest educational institutions in India, such as the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, along with private universities and specialized schools of design. Developer ChatGPT said the partnership will span from engineering and management to healthcare and technology sectors.
India has already emerged as a testing ground for the use of AI in education. Last month, Google said that India is an account the world’s largest use of its Gemini equipment for education. Microsoft, likewise, said this week it would expanding its Elevate talent program in India to train teachers in schools, vocational schools, and higher education, working with government agencies as part of a push to scale AI.
OpenAI said the partnership will include access for all schools to its ChatGPT Edu tools, technical training, and best practices. The goal, the company said, is to embed AI in basic learning processes such as coding, research, analysis, and case analysis, rather than providing stand-alone tools.
Two of the partner institutes, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, have also introduced certificates supported by OpenAI. In addition, OpenAI said it will work with Indian ed-tech platforms, including PhysicsWallah, upGrad, and HCL GUVI, to expand AI education beyond schools. These platforms will introduce focused courses on AI privacy and ChatGPT use cases, aimed at students and early career professionals.
Raghav Gupta, head of education at OpenAI India, said that education institutions are a “challenging way” to close the gap between rapidly advancing AI tools and how people use them, because innovation requires economic change.
Last year, OpenAI hired Gupta, who was managing director of Coursera Asia-Pacific, as head of education for India and Asia-Pacific, along with the launch of a Learning Accelerator program focused on developing AI capabilities.
A growing body of education confirms how the AI ​​industry is expanding beyond consumer devices and business customers to organizations that create skills, cultures, and long-term adoption. For countries like India, the race is less about access to AI, and about who helps define how it is taught, controlled, and scaled.
