OpenAI Opens Office In Tokyo, Steps To Expand AI Business In Asia

OpenAI is now opening an office in Tokyo (photo: x @openai)

JAKARTA OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based startup backed by Microsoft, opened its first Asia office in Tokyo, Japan. This is done, as a first step to expand its business in the region.

"This is just the first step in what I expect as a long-term partnership with Japanese society, government leaders, businesses and research institutes," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a video message.

This startup, which has caused excitement among consumers since the launch of its ChatGPT-generative AI chatbot by the end of 2022, is looking for new sources of revenue around the world.

Altman and Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap have held a meeting with hundreds of Fortune 500 company executives in the United States and the United Kingdom this month to seek new businesses.

Introducing OpenAI Japan, our first office in Asia, along with a new GPT-4 custom model specifically optimized for 日本語 (the Japanese language). https://t.co/mIcCpbC18m pic.twitter.com/UJjQpBjKsO

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) April 15, 2024

Introducing OpenAI Japan, our first office in Asia, along with a new GPT-4 custom model specifically optimized for 日本語 (the Japanese language). https://t.co/mIcCpbC18m pic.twitter.com/UJjQpBjKsO

Last year, Altman said he was considering a location in Japan after meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The startup has also opened offices in London and Dublin.

Japan hopes to take advantage of artificial intelligence as it seeks to compete with China that is increasingly firm, accelerate the transition to digital services, and address the deepening labor shortage.

"We have quite a lot of demand," Lightcap told reporters in Tokyo. "We expect meaningful contributions from Japan from time to time."

OpenAI says it has a custom model optimized for Japanese and that Tadao88, once president of the Amazon Web Services in Japan, leads a business in Japan.

Although the country is considered a player left behind in this technology, local companies including telecommunications operator SoftBank and NTT are investing in large language models.

There are so many OpenAI customers in Japan, including automotive manufacturer Toyota Motor, manufacturer Daikin Industries, and local government.

Microsoft announced last week that it would invest 2.9 billion US dollars (Rp46.6 trillion) in the next two years in cloud and AI infrastructure in Japan, as part of a wave of global investment by US tech giants.