Sam Altman doesn't have an understanding of India's capabilities in AI: Chandrasekhar
2 min read 12 Jun 2023, 11:00 PM ISTBefore this, Chandrasekhar had reacted to Altman's comments on a global body to regulate AI, and said that while the OpenAI CEO has his own ideas, India has its own views on the issue.
PremiumMinister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that OpenAI chief Sam Altman does not have an understanding of India's capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report by Moneycontrol. Chandrasekhar noted that Altman is not the last word on India’s AI aspirations and there will be many areas where he will not agree with the founder of the immensely popular ChatGPT chatbot.
“Sam Altman is a bright man who certainly has done a lot of work in OpenAI. And he has to be respected for his work. But we should not consider him anything other than an important man in AI. He's certainly not going to be the last word on what India's aspirations for AI are going to be. He certainly doesn't have an understanding of India's capabilities in AI," Chandrasekhar told Moneycontrol last week.
The minister said that the government is keen on backing development of AI by Indian startups and tech firms. Before this, Chandrasekhar had reacted to Altman's comments on a global body to regulate AI, and said that while the OpenAI CEO has his own ideas, India has its own views on the issue.
On his trip to India, Sam Altman said that there was no hope of an Indian startup with $10 million in funding to compete with OpenAI. However, that statement triggered a controversy with a flurry of responses from top CEOs. Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani shared a video on Twitter in which Altman can be heard saying that India's chances of building a ChatGPT-like tool was 'hopeless'.
Altman responded that a wrong question had been asked to him and reiterated that with an investment of $10 million, India would find it tough to compete with OpenAI.
"this is really taken out of context! the question was about competing with us with $10 million, which i really do think is not going to work. but i still said try! however, I think it’s the wrong question," Altman replied to Gurnani's tweet.
"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," he added.