While acknowledging that costs for cutting-edge models may continue to rise, Altman suggested that the cost of basic AI intelligence could drop significantly, potentially by a factor of ten within a year.

He also remarked that the AI industry is undergoing rapid changes, akin to Moore's Law, which is enhancing capabilities from existing hardware and is likely to attract increased investment in AI.

In response to Altman's comments, Vaishnaw highlighted India's AI Mission, which aims to create indigenous foundational AI models and develop a comprehensive AI ecosystem in alignment with Altman's vision.

On February 5, 2025, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, clarified that his earlier comment suggesting India should 'not even try' to build foundational AI models was misinterpreted.

This clarification came during a discussion with Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, where Altman explained that his original statement, made during his first visit to India in June 2023, referred to the high costs associated with building foundational AI models at that time.

Altman emphasized India's significance in the AI market, noting it is OpenAI's second largest market, with the user base having tripled in the past year.

He pointed out that advancements in AI model distillation have enabled the development of smaller, more affordable models, which could foster creativity in AI development.

Adding to the competitive landscape, on January 20, 2025, the Chinese company DeepSeek claimed to have developed a foundational AI model at a significantly lower cost than OpenAI's expenses to date.