OpenAI launches AI Learning Accelerator in India, names Raghav Gupta head of education

OpenAI has unveiled a Learning Accelerator program in India to expand access to advanced AI for teachers and students nationwide through research, training, and deployment initiatives.

“India has the largest population of student ChatGPT users worldwide,” Leah Belsky, the company’s vice president for education, said during the announcement.

The initiative includes a $500,000 grant to IIT Madras, which will assess OpenAI’s pilot of AI-powered “one-on-one tutors” in classrooms.

The news was shared at OpenAI’s first large-scale education event in India, the OpenAI Education Summit.

During the summit, the company also announced plans to open a Delhi office and introduced Raghav Gupta as its second full-time employee in India.

Gupta, formerly head of Coursera’s India operations until March, will lead the company’s education projects in the country.

OpenAI described the summit as a “pre-event” to the multilateral AI Impact Summit, scheduled to be hosted in India next year.

The company plans to distribute five lakh ChatGPT Plus licenses to schoolteachers in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Additional licenses will reach higher education institutions through the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

“By working closely with universities, schools, government bodies, and educators, we have an opportunity to truly transform education through AI, driving better learning outcomes, while supporting India’s ambitions to be a global leader in AI-enabled education,” Gupta said.

Belsky emphasized that generative AI adoption in education is different from past technology waves because students are already actively using it.

In India, she noted, over half of ChatGPT users are under 24, with learning and education being the main focus even among minors.

“As we look at past waves of education and technology adoption, it was top-down,” Belsky said.

“There was an opportunity for heads of schools and university leaders to consider the new tech and invent policy, to evaluate options, to train teachers, and then eventually to give this technology to students,” Belsky added.

Belsky continued, “With AI, it’s different. It’s grassroots; students are discovering it through social media, and they’re using it often ahead of parents and teachers, on their own,” Belsky added.