Ex-OpenAI researcher returns to India, says the next great AI companies can be built here

As the global race for artificial intelligence intensifies, one former OpenAI researcher is betting that the next wave of breakthrough innovation does not have to emerge from Silicon Valley.

Shyamal Anadkat, who spent nearly four years at OpenAI working on the evaluation and safety of advanced AI systems, has relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to India. The move, announced in a recent post on X, reflects his growing conviction that the country's technology ecosystem is entering a defining moment in its development.

Anadkat's decision stands out at a time when many of the world's leading AI companies remain concentrated in a handful of American technology hubs. Yet he argues that geography is becoming less important as talent, capital and technical expertise spread more widely across the world.

During his tenure at OpenAI, Anadkat led the company's Applied Evals team, a group responsible for assessing the performance, reliability and safety of increasingly powerful AI models. His work placed him close to the centre of the generative AI boom that has transformed the technology industry over the past several years.

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Despite that experience, he said he felt a strong pull towards the region where he was raised and increasingly saw opportunities emerging outside the traditional centres of innovation.

Looking beyond Silicon Valley

In his public remarks, Anadkat acknowledged that leaving the Bay Area initially felt unconventional given its status as the world's most influential technology hub. Over time, however, he came to view the decision differently.

Since returning, he has spent weeks speaking with engineers, researchers, entrepreneurs and other technology leaders across India and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Those conversations, he said, reinforced his belief that there is a growing appetite to build ambitious technology companies capable of competing on a global stage.

Rather than identifying a shortage of technical expertise, Anadkat pointed to a different challenge. In his view, many talented individuals in the region possess the skills required to build world-class organisations but often underestimate their ability to do so.

He suggested that the lingering obstacle is a lack of collective confidence rather than a lack of talent, funding or technical capability. Historically, many founders have looked towards established technology centres when imagining the future of innovation. Anadkat believes that mindset is beginning to change.

Where is India in the AI race?

India is not yet competing with the United States or China in building the world's most powerful frontier AI models, but it has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI ecosystems globally. The country boasts a vast pool of engineering talent, a thriving startup culture and a rapidly expanding base of AI users.

While American firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and Chinese players like DeepSeek and Zhipu AI, continue to lead in foundation model development, India is increasingly carving out a role as a hub for AI innovation, applications and multilingual AI research. Government initiatives and growing investor interest have further accelerated efforts to build indigenous AI capabilities.

A new generation of Indian startups is helping drive that momentum. Sarvam AI has developed large language models tailored for Indian languages and was recently selected to help build India's sovereign AI ecosystem.

Other notable players include Krutrim, which is building AI models and cloud infrastructure, Gnani.ai, which focuses on speech and voice technologies, and CoRover, known for creating AI assistants used by government agencies and enterprises. Together, these companies are demonstrating that India may not yet lead the AI race, but it is increasingly positioning itself as a serious contender in the next phase of global AI development.