OpenAI has opened its first office in Asia in Tokyo, Japan as the ChatGPT developer aims to expand its global presence.
“We’re excited to be coming to Japan, a country with a rich history of people and technology coming together to achieve more,” CEO Sam Altman said in a statement Sunday. “We believe that AI will accelerate work by making people more creative and productive, while delivering broad value to new industries today and yet to be imagined.”
As part of this move, the company has appointed Tadao Nagasaki as the new president of OpenAI Japan, who will lead its commercial and market engagement efforts.
Tokyo was chosen for its “world-class leadership in technology, service culture, and a community that embraces innovation.”
“As a first step in our long-term commitment to the region, we will provide local businesses with early access to a GPT-4 custom model specifically optimized for the Japanese language,” the statement said.
“This custom model provides improved performance for translating and summarizing Japanese text, is cost-effective, and runs up to three times faster than its predecessor,” it added.
According to the company, Japanese companies such as Daikin Industries, Toyota Motor Corporation, and local governments are using ChatGPT to improve efficiency.
Mr. Altman reportedly met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit in November and said that he was considering opening a new office in Japan.
The artificial intelligence startup burst into the mainstream after the public launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. The company is supported by: microsoftAnd a private market valuation is reportedly underway. Approaching $100 billion. Â
Last week, Microsoft said: Plans to invest $2.9 billion Over the next two years, we will strengthen hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan.
Microsoft said this is “the single largest investment in the company’s 46-year history in Japan, which is also the location of its first international office.”