OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning a mid-February visit to India, his first trip to the country in nearly a year, as TechCrunch reports. The move comes as New Delhi prepares to host the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a five-day event expected to draw the biggest names in AI - including Meta, Google, and Anthropic executives - alongside India's top business leaders. The convergence signals a pivotal moment for India's emergence as a battleground market for American AI companies seeking to convert the world's most populous nation into paying customers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is heading back to India, and he's not coming alone. The ChatGPT maker is quietly planning closed-door meetings in New Delhi around mid-February, coinciding with what could be India's most significant AI gathering yet - the India AI Impact Summit 2026, running February 16-20.
According to sources familiar with the plans, Altman's visit hasn't been publicly announced and could still shift, but OpenAI is already lining up private sessions on the summit's sidelines. The company's also hosting its own event on February 19, with VCs and industry executives invited.
The timing is hardly coincidental. India's first major AI summit is pulling in the entire industry's A-list - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and CEO Dario Amodei are all , alongside Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. Altman's name isn't on the official roster, but his separate meetings suggest is taking a different approach - one focused on direct engagement rather than stage appearances.
