OpenAI opens its first Asia office in Japan as a 'first step' in its commitment to the region

OpenAI has opened its first Asian office in Tokyo, Japan as the ChatGPT developer aims to expand its global presence.

"We're excited to be in Japan which has a rich history of people and technology coming together to do more," CEO Sam Altman said in the statement released Sunday. "We believe AI will accelerate work by empowering people to be more creative and productive, while also delivering broad value to current and new industries that have yet to be imagined."

As part of the move, the company has appointed Tadao Nagasaki as the new president of OpenAI Japan, to head commercial and market engagement efforts.

Tokyo was chosen due to "its global leadership in technology, culture of service, and a community that embraces innovation."

"As a first step in our long-term commitment to the region, we're providing local businesses with early access to a GPT-4 custom model specifically optimized for the Japanese language," according to the statement.

"This custom model offers improved performance in translating and summarizing Japanese text, is cost effective, and operates up to 3x faster than its predecessor," it added.

Japanese corporations like Daikin, Toyota as well as local governments are using ChatGPT to improve their efficiency, the company said.

Altman met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year and reportedly mentioned he was looking into opening a new office in Japan.

The artificial intelligence startup burst into the mainstream after the public launch of the ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. The company is backed by Microsoft and has a private market valuation that's reportedly approaching $100 billion.  

Last week, Microsoft said it will be investing $2.9 billion over the next two years to increase its hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan.

This is the "single largest investment in its 46-year history in Japan, also the site of its first international office," Microsoft said.