What Could PM Modi Discuss With OpenAI CEO Sam Altman This Week? Here's What We Know So Far

The Government’s discussions with Altman are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping India's AI roadmap to become a global power.

This will not be Altman's first meeting with PM Modi, as he had a chat with the prime minister during his June 2023 India visit.

Source : X/Sam Altman

Sam Altman India Visit: The Narendra Modi Government is advancing efforts to establish its own foundational artificial intelligence (AI) model by adopting a strategic mix of open-source technologies and existing AI frameworks. S Krishnan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), shared this vision while speaking at a CNBC-TV18 townhall event on Tuesday.

Krishnan revealed that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is expected to visit India this week and meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The discussions are likely to focus on potential applications of OpenAI technologies and ways to harness advanced AI capabilities to benefit India’s burgeoning tech landscape.

This will not be Altman's first meeting with PM Modi, as he had a chat with the prime minister during his June 2023 India visit.

Stress On Open Source

Highlighting the Government's interest in fostering cooperation with global leaders like OpenAI, Krishnan clarified that India's AI journey needs to prioritise open-source frameworks. ChatGPT, for instance, is not open-source, he said. "Our models will have to be built on open-source foundations."

The MeitY secretary pointed to DeepSeek as a promising example of a hybrid approach in AI development. DeepSeek, which incorporates components of pre-existing models to create customised AI solutions, offers valuable insights for building India-specific models. However, Krishnan cautioned against the potential risks posed by unclear data sourcing and privacy concerns surrounding such technologies.

Data privacy is a key concern, Krishnan said. "If you use DeepSeek as an app, it's likely that the data travels to their servers," he said. To mitigate this issue, he proposed that models like DeepSeek be hosted on servers within India. "We can pick up DeepSeek, host it on Indian servers, so that data stays here in India," he emphasised.

As India charts its path toward becoming a global AI hub, balancing innovation with data sovereignty and security remains a top priority for policymakers. The Government’s discussions with Altman are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping this roadmap, marking another step in India’s strategic push toward AI self-reliance and technological leadership.