OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shifts his stance on India’s AI capabilities, praising its creativity — CRED CEO Kunal Shah calls out his efforts at engagement farming.
OpenAI CEO Sam Atlman posts animated image with Team India tee
Calls Indians creative, says they are outpacing the world
CRED CEO Kunal Shah calls out Altman’s efforts of engagement farming
Sam Altman has a complicated relationship with India. From calling Indian efforts to build something like ChatGPT “totally hopeless” to now marvelling at India’s AI adoption, the OpenAI CEO seems to have undergone a dramatic change of heart. But is it genuine admiration, or just a well-calculated move to tap into India’s massive AI user base?
His latest tweets lean towards the latter. Altman recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to hail India’s creativity and rapid AI adoption. “India is outpacing the world,” he wrote, conveniently sidestepping his past scepticism. But Kunal Shah, the founder of CRED, was quick to cut through the noise, responding with a simple but biting observation: “India is the MAU farm of the world.”
For the uninitiated, MAU stands for Monthly Active Users – a metric that tech companies love to flaunt. A high MAU count means more engagement, more data, and ultimately, more monetisation opportunities. And India, with its billion-plus population and ever-increasing smartphone penetration, is the ideal hunting ground for companies seeking a vast, engaged user base. In other words, it’s a goldmine for businesses like OpenAI, which thrive on user interactions and data.
Altman’s latest tweetstorm didn’t stop there. In an almost too-on-the-nose attempt to ride the wave of Indian engagement, he even shared an AI-generated anime image of himself as a cricket player donning the Indian team’s jersey. Cricket, the holy grail of Indian sports fandom, is an easy way to win hearts—and, more importantly, boost engagement numbers. It was a strategic move, but one that didn’t go unnoticed.
Kunal Shah, never one to mince words, responded with a short and loaded phrase: “MAU incoming.” The message was clear – Altman’s newfound enthusiasm for India isn’t all about AI innovation.
To be fair, India’s AI adoption is indeed noteworthy. With a thriving developer community, the country is making significant strides. But the irony of Altman’s pivot is hard to ignore. Just two years ago, he scoffed at the idea of an Indian ChatGPT. Now, he can’t stop praising Indian creativity.
Altman’s sudden enthusiasm for India comes at a time when OpenAI is grappling with its own success – perhaps more than it expected. Just last week, the company rolled out a new image-generation feature for GPT-4o, allowing users to create AI-generated images directly within the chatbot. But the feature’s unexpected popularity, particularly for its ability to replicate the beloved Studio Ghibli art style, quickly overwhelmed OpenAI’s servers.
From profile pictures to wedding photos, the internet went into a frenzy over “Ghibli-style” images, pushing OpenAI’s infrastructure to its limits. The surge in demand was so intense that Altman himself admitted their GPUs were “melting.” A week later, the chaos hasn’t subsided, and OpenAI is still struggling to stabilise its services. On Tuesday, Altman warned users to brace for delays, glitches, and slow performance as the company scrambles to manage capacity.
