There's real value in AI and India has a real opportunity: OpenAI chief economist

At the India Today AI Summit, OpenAI's Chief Economist Dr Aaron Chatterji said AI is real and accelerating, and India's success will hinge on how fast it invests in skills, infrastructure and trust.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not hype and it is not a passing bubble. It is already reshaping economies, and India has a real opportunity to lead if it makes the right investments. That was the central message from Dr. Aaron Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at OpenAI, at the India Today AI Summit 2026.

Asked whether AI is a bubble or the real thing, Chatterji was unequivocal. “I have studied prior economic recessions, bubbles and technological waves from the printing press to the semiconductor to the internet. AI is real,” he said.

“You are seeing users around the world adopt these tools and get real value out of them.”

He pointed to scale to make his case. OpenAI now has 900 million weekly active users globally, including 100 million in India. “That is real value,” he said. “There are a million businesses that are our customers. There are billions of dollars of revenue being realised around AI.”

India, he said, is one of OpenAI’s fastest-growing markets, with 2.5 times year-on-year growth. Usage is particularly strong in coding and data analysis, areas that directly feed into productivity.

On whether India is playing catch-up to the United States and China, which dominate AI infrastructure investment, Chatterji was candid but optimistic. “Massive investments are going to be required in India to play in the intelligence age,” he said. “But we are still in the early innings.”