'Eager to contribute to India's AI mission,' says OpenAI's first Indian employee Pragya Misra

Pragya Misra, OpenAI’s first employee in India, has made it official on social media. Misra is now joining the Sam Altman-led AI company, as Public Policy & Partnerships Lead. On X, formerly known as Twitter, she expressed excitement to join the company and contribute to India’s AI mission.

She wrote, “Excited to share that I've joined @OpenAI as their first hire in India to lead Public Policy & Partnerships to advance OpenAI's values of safety, transparency, and human-centric innovation.” She added, “We are eager to contribute to India's AI mission by collaborating with developers, users, academics, civil society, and policymakers to harness AI's potential for societal benefit for Bharat.”

The 39-year-old Pragya Misra’s experience includes Truecaller AB and Meta Platforms Inc. She has been working as the Director of Public Affairs for Truecaller since July 2021 prior to joining OpenAI. Her role involved working closely with government ministries, key stakeholders, investors, and media partners. Prior to Truecaller, she spearheaded WhatsApp’s campaign against misinformation in 2018 and held positions at Ernst & Young and the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi.

In terms of education, she has done her MBA from the International Management Institute in 2012 and is a commerce graduate from Delhi University. She also holds a Diploma in Bargaining and Negotiations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Misra is an avid golfer who represented India at several international tournaments between 1998 and 2007. She is also a Heartfulness Meditation Trainer and hosts the Pragyaan Podcast. 

OpenAI’s decision to hire Misra is seen as a strategic move to bolster its presence in India’s tech market, where it faces competition from Google’s AI model. Misra is expected to commence her duties at OpenAI by the end of this month.

In other news, OpenAI announced an upgrade to its ChatGPT system, known as Memory, back in February. This feature enables ChatGPT to retain queries, prompts, and tailored modifications in a more permanent fashion. Initially accessible to a select group of users, OpenAI has now extended the availability of Memory to subscribers of ChatGPT Plus outside of Europe or Korea.

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