GPT-5 launch: Sam Altman says India could soon overtake US as OpenAI’s biggest market

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes India could soon become the company’s largest market, overtaking the US. “India is our second-largest market in the world after the US, and it may well become our largest market. It’s incredibly fast-growing, but what users are doing with AI, what citizens of India are doing with AI, is really quite remarkable,” Altman said.

OpenAI has launched GPT-5, which it calls its most powerful AI model yet for programming and autonomous task execution. Available in three versions — gpt-5, gpt-5-mini, and gpt-5-nano — the release offers developers the choice to optimise for speed, efficiency, or cost depending on their needs.

“We’re especially focused on bringing products to India, working with local partners to make AI work great for India and make it more affordable for people across the country. We’ve been paying a lot of attention here given the rate of growth and I am excited to come for a visit in September,” Altman said at the launch.

Touted as “more intelligent, quicker, and highly practical,” GPT-5 is positioned as a leap forward for ChatGPT, with capabilities that Altman says can deliver insights “on par with PhD-level knowledge.” It outperforms previous models in programming, mathematics, writing, healthcare, and visual interpretation, while adapting its responses based on whether a query demands speed or depth.

The rollout covers all user tiers — Free, Plus, Pro, and Team — ensuring even free ChatGPT users gain access. Enterprise and Edu customers will receive the upgrade within a week.