The San Francisco-headquartered tech disruptor already has contracts with Atlassian, Canva, and CBA. Its new Sydney office is designed to expand OpenAI’s reach further.
More than 700 million users are active on OpenAI each week, according to the disruptive Silicon Valley tech firm. Globally, four million developers are building on the OpenAI platform and even more are paying business customers, the company says.
Australia is one of OpenAI’s top 10 subscriber markets and over the last year, customers have more than doubled their usage of the service to “solve hard problems, boost productivity, improve services, and build new products.”
“Australia’s government, businesses, and world-class developer ecosystem are already shaping the future of AI,” COO Brad Lightcap says. “We’re excited to expand our presence in Australia and build a local team to work closely with partners, customers, and the millions of Australians who use ChatGPT daily.”
Kate Pounder, OpenAI’s Australian head of policy says Australians are using ChatGPT for “everything from doing admin tasks in their business, planning holidays and checking if messages are potentially cyber scams.”
Pounder notes that OpenAI committing to a Sydney office is recognition of Australia’s “unique opportunities in AI” and that the nation should be “a part of the new wave of global expansion, alongside countries like India.”
OpenAI’s Australian inroads
Homegrown tech companies Atlassian and Canva are already aligned with OpenAI. Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also has a multi-year partnership with the firm.
“To be globally competitive, Australia must embrace this new era of rapid technological change,” Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said when the deal was announced earlier this month.
Prior to CBA partnering with OpenAI, the bank trialled other AI chatbots to help support customers. These chatbots were criticised by Australia’s Financial Services Union (FSU) for their inefficiency.
“Despite claiming the voice bot had reduced call volumes, FSU members told a different story – that call volumes were actually increasing,” FSU states.
CBA has since announced its deal with OpenAI.
“Our strategic partnership with OpenAI reflects our commitment to bringing world class capabilities to Australia, and exploring how AI can enhance customer experiences, better protect our customers, and unlock new opportunities for Australian businesses,” says Comyn.
OpenAI says the new Sydney office is an effort to “better support its growing community of users, from students and teachers to developers and businesses”.
An Australian operating entity has been established and while the exact location of the Sydney office is not yet known, the company says it plans to integrate into the burgeoning Australian AI ecosystem.
“It will allow OpenAI to work more closely with policymakers and deepen collaboration with Australian researchers and institutions to help strengthen the country’s AI ecosystem,” a company statement reads.
OpenAI’s APAC growth
The news comes in the same week that ChatGPT Go launches in India. OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman stated on X that the company plans to roll the new subscription service out in other countries.
COO Lightcap confirmed that an office in New Delhi will also be open this year.
“India is now our second largest market after the US,” Lightcap stated this week. “Weekly ChatGPT users have grown 4x in the last year, and India is now top 10 for API devs.”
Closer to home, an Australian university is pioneering a first-of-it’s kind APAC partnership with ChatGPT Edu.
In December, UNSW announced it had entered into an agreement to deploy ChatGPT Edu to its researchers, students and educators.
The University’s new OpenAI-fueled offering is designed to operate on a secure platform and allow academics to protect their IP while also collaborating and ‘enhancing’ the work they do. It is the first such agreement in the APAC territory.
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