OpenAI Expands Global Presence with New Office in Singapore

OpenAI begins recruiting in Singapore for 2nd Asia office - VnExpress International

OpenAI is hiring a team in Singapore for its second office in Asia following the launch of its Japan outpost four months ago. The new office is planned to be launched by the end of the year and will serve as a hub for the company to work with partners and customers across the region, Bloomberg reported. "Singapore, with its rich history of technology leadership, has emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence," Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, said in a statement. "We're excited to partner with the government and the country's thriving AI ecosystem as we expand into the Asia Pacific region. Open positions in Singapore include sales director, customer manager, architect and engineer. OpenAI is also partnering with local company AI Singapore, a state initiative which connects local research groups. The San Francisco-based startup is accelerating its expansion following recent funding and credit deals which helped it reach a valuation of $157 billion. Among its backers is SoftBank Group Corp., a major AI-focused investor. In April it launched its first office in Asia, located in Tokyo, and introduced a specialized GPT-4 model tailored for Japanese-language users.

OpenAI sees new Singapore office supporting its fast growth in the region

In a nation where the number of weekly active OpenAI users already has doubled in 2024, the company also looks to collaborate more closely with government agencies. OpenAI plans to open an office in Singapore to support its growth and expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Slated to begin operating later this year, the new outfit will facilitate increasing demand for advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the region, said OpenAI in a statement Wednesday. It will serve as a hub to boost relationships with local and regional governments, institutions, and businesses across Asia-Pacific. The decision to locate it in Singapore also reflects the country's leading position in the technology and industry, the AI vendor said. The Asian market has seen the number of weekly ChatGPT active users double since the start of 2024 and is home to some of the highest per capita users of the generative AI application. Also: OpenAI saga shows the race for AI supremacy is no longer just between nations "Singapore, with its rich history of technology leadership, has emerged as a leader in AI, recognizing its potential to solve some of society's hardest problems and advance economic prosperity," said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. He had alluded to potential plans to set up a local office during his visit to Singapore last year. Its presence in the Asian market will enable the company to collaborate more closely with Singapore government agencies, including Economic Development Board (EDB), said OpenAI. Apart from new partnerships, Singapore also is hoping the new outfit will pull more AI companies into the region, said EDB's managing director Jacqueline Poh. Also: Transparency is sorely lacking amid growing AI interest OpenAI has hired Oliver Jay as its managing director for international, based in Singapore. Jay will drive the company's global operations and growth in Singapore and region. It also announced a $1 million investment to develop resources, including open datasets, that aim to ensure AI models are fitted for Southeast Asia's diverse languages and cultures. The funds will be made through a partnership with AI Singapore, the government agency behind the development of Southeast Asian Languages in One Network (SEA-LION), an open-source large language model touted to be smaller, more flexible, and faster compared to others on the market today. Pre-trained and instruct-tuned for Southeast Asian languages and cultures, SEA-LION has been trained on 981 billion language tokens, including 623 billion English tokens, 128 billion Southeast Asia tokens, and 91 billion Chinese tokens. Also: AI leaders urged to integrate local data models for diversity's sake "We welcome OpenAI's participation in our shared vision in enhancing Southeast Asian representation in the global landscape of LLMs," said Leslie Teo, senior director of AI products at AI Singapore. "This effort will improve the availability and quality of Southeast Asian data and encourage further development and adoption of AI models and solutions in our region." OpenAI plans to hold its first Developer Day in Singapore on Nov. 21. Apart from the upcoming Singapore office, OpenAI also operates an outfit in Tokyo, which was its first in Asia when it was officially launched in April this year. Businesses in Japan then were offered early access to a custom GPT-4 model optimized for the Japanese language.

OpenAI Starts Hiring in Singapore for Second Asia Office

OpenAI is building a team in Singapore to support growing demand for artificial intelligence tools in the Asia-Pacific region. The new office, to be opened by the end of the year, will serve as a hub for the startup to work with partners, governments and customers across the wider region. OpenAI is also partnering with AI Singapore, a state initiative bringing together local research groups, as it builds out its presence and connections in a part of the world with a fast-growing online user base. Singaporeans are among the highest per-capita users of ChatGPT, OpenAI said in a statement.

OpenAI expands into Singapore

ANN/ THE STRAITS TIMES - OpenAI, the San Francisco-based company known for pioneering generative artificial intelligence (AI), is set to open its second Asian office in Singapore later in 2024. This will be the company's fourth international branch and will focus on strengthening regional collaboration. One key initiative will be working with AI Singapore, the national AI program, to develop generative AI models tailored to the cultures and languages of Southeast Asia. This expansion highlights OpenAI's long-term strategy to tap into Singapore's growing tech talent and establish a stronger presence in the region, positioning the city-state as a hub for its Asia-Pacific (APAC) partnerships. CEO Sam Altman said in a statement yesterday, "Singapore, with its rich history of technology leadership, has emerged as a leader in AI, recognising its potential to solve some of society's hardest problems and advance economic prosperity. "We're excited to partner with the government and the country's thriving AI ecosystem as we expand into the Apac region." Altman, 39, last visited Singapore in June 2023 during a world tour to discuss AI-related issues and address concerns about the rapid roll-out of its signature product, ChatGPT, which brought generative AI into the mainstream. OpenAI, founded in 2015, has offices in London, Dublin and Tokyo. The location of its Singapore office is still being finalised. It will focus on supporting customers and partnerships with governments, businesses and institutions, said OpenAI. "These plans reflect Singapore's leadership position in technology and AI, as well as the growing demand for advanced AI tools across Apac," said OpenAI, which added that Singaporeans are among the highest-per-capita users of ChatGPT worldwide, with the number of weekly active users here doubling since the start of 2024. When asked, OpenAI confirmed that it plans to hire between five and 10 employees before 2025, for roles related to sales, security and solutions engineering, among others, and is committed to hiring local talent in Singapore. Its regional operations will be led by Oliver Jay, who will serve as managing director of International and will be based in Singapore. Jay was previously chief revenue officer at software company Asana and an independent board director at Grab. The firm will work more closely with Singapore government partners, such as the Economic Development Board (EDB), to support AI development in Singapore. OpenAI added, "Establishing a regional presence brings OpenAI closer to innovative local companies, such as Grab in Singapore and Canva in Australia, which are using OpenAI's advanced AI products to power new tools and features for their customers." With that, OpenAI aims to make advanced AI more accessible in Southeast Asia and will provide up to USD1 million to develop resources to ensure AI models that reflect the region's diverse languages and cultures under a new partnership with AI Singapore. As an agency tasked with driving the growth of the technology here, AI Singapore is developing Sea-Lion, a network of ChatGPT-like large language models that are specifically trained for Southeast Asian users to ensure that there is an AI that captures the region's cultures. Since OpenAI made ChatGPT public in 2022, its presence in Singapore has expanded quickly, with its technology being integrated into AI solutions used by both businesses and the government, including customer service chatbots and an internal AI assistant for civil servants, Pair. AI models by Google Cloud and Meta have also entered the fray and are among the systems that are being tested by the authorities in various projects. EDB Managing Director Jacqueline Poh said OpenAI's entry is a sign of the strength of the city-state's growing AI ecosystem, investments in AI talent, computation and demand from businesses. OpenAI's operations here is likely to help spark new collaborations across the sector, she added. The start-up's overseas expansion comes on the heels of reports of its planned overhaul from a non-profit research lab into a more investor-friendly, for-profit business, in the light of rising operational costs of running powerful AI systems globally. While OpenAI said its non-profit arm remains core to the company, the move has raised concerns within the industry over managing AI risks - such as how it collects data for training and other ethical considerations - in its new structure. The company will host its first Developer Day on November 21, targeting developers and start-ups.

OpenAI to open offices in Singapore, Paris, Brussels to facilitate global expansion | TechCrunch

OpenAI said in a post on X that it is opening new offices in multiple cities, including NYC, Seattle, Paris, Brussels, and Singapore, in addition to its existing locations in San Francisco, London, Dublin and Tokyo, as part of the company's global expansion efforts. The expansion effort follows the San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker's whopping $6.4 billion funding round, a restructuring plan announcement, and a series of executive departures. The company also appointed Oliver Jay, formerly the chief revenue officer at Asana and head of APAC and LATAM at Dropbox, as a managing director. He will be responsible for overseeing international operations and facilitating global expansion. A spokesperson at OpenAI told TechCrunch the company has started building a team in Singapore, which will serve as a hub to support customers and partners in the Asia Pacific region. The company is currently hiring engineers, and plans to open the Singapore office at the end of this year. This will be OpenAI's second office in Asia, following the launch of the Tokyo office in April. "Singaporeans are some of the highest per capita users of ChatGPT worldwide, with the number of weekly active users in Singapore doubling since the beginning of the year," OpenAI said in a statement. Alongside the new office, OpenAI said it is partnering with AI Singapore to expand access to its AI technology in Southeast Asia. AI Singapore, initiated in 2017 by the National Research Foundation (NRF), is a national program that supports Singaporean companies and research organizations in leveraging AI. "Singapore, with its rich history of technology leadership, has emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence, recognizing its potential to solve some of society's hardest problems and advance economic prosperity," said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI in a statement. "We're excited to partner with the government and the country's thriving AI ecosystem as we expand into the APAC region."

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, hopes to join Singapore 'thriving AI ecosystem' with new office

The new office will support customers and partners in the Asia-Pacific region, and strengthen relationships with governments, businesses and institutions. The office plans to hire as many as ten employees before 2025, reports the Straits Times. The office is the AI developer's second in Asia, following the opening of a Japan office earlier this year. OpenAI already has local partnerships in Singapore, including one with ride-hailing firm Grab announced at the end of May. The agreement gives Grab access to OpenAI's technical expertise to develop solutions specific to Southeast Asia. One of Grab's former board members, Oliver Jay, now serves as OpenAI's managing director of international operations. Singaporeans are some of the heaviest users of ChatGPT on a per capita basis, OpenAI claimed in its Wednesday statement, according to Bloomberg. In 2019, Singapore became one of the first countries to adopt a national AI strategy. The country not only hopes to attract investments in AI, but also wants to leverage its access to data collected as a hub for goods and services. Singapore's plan to keep up with AI giants like the U.S. and China is to ensure that residents can "compete on quality," Simon Chesterman, vice-provost at the National University of Singapore, said at the Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore conference in July. The country is also taking the lead in ensuring that Southeast Asia is better represented in the digital space through measures like the Southeast Asian Languages in One Network project (SEA-LION), an initiative to build a model that incorporates Southeast Asian languages. On Wednesday, OpenAI also announced a partnership with AI Singapore, a joint government-academic project to encourage AI adoption. The ChatGPT developer is providing up to $1 million to help "ensure AI models are better suited to Southeast Asia's diverse languages and cultures.

OpenAI appoints international expansion boss

Picks Singapore as APAC hub and outlines desire to get governments onside Chat GPT-maker Open AI announced today that it's appointed a new boss to lead its international expansion. Oliver Jay - whose background includes building out Dropbox's sales team, a board appointment at Asia's Uber-analog Grab, and a stint as chief revenue officer at Asana - is taking on the role, leading OpenAI's strategy and operations in international markets. OpenAI also today announced Singapore will be home to its APAC office, serving as a hub for APAC operations. The firm already has a footprint in the region, after establishing its first Asian office in Tokyo earlier this year. The new office is expected to be opened by the end of the year - perhaps helped by a $6.4 billion infusion of cash at the start of this month. "We really look forward to working with commercial partners, with government partners, as we grow our presence here, and really view this as a critical first step to our commitment to Singapore and to Asia more broadly," stated OpenAI's head of policy in APAC, Sandy Kunvatanagarn at Singapore's Tech Week conference following the announcement. Kunvatanagarn elaborated that part of the Singapore team's focus will be helping develop local language datasets through partnerships. "I think we all realize that Asia is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the entire world," she asserted, stressing the importance of comfortable natural speech in OpenAI products. The head of policy said the data sets would be open to researchers and other developers. Kunvatanagarn noted that even though many are yet to become adept ChatGPT users, OpenAI has already signed millions of enterprise and commercial partners. The GPT-maker is banking on its o1 model, released a few weeks ago, to increase demand for its offerings. The o1 family of models uses "chain of thought" techniques that are supposed to produce more accurate output. Kunvatanagarn described it as a "game changer" during a Q&A session at the conference. She also frequently cited "the science" of AI, arguing it should be central to regulations, governance and the future of AI. Safety was another topic she addressed, by pointing out that OpenAI conducts rigorous evaluations of its wares. "If people don't think that the models and the products are safe, they're not going to trust them, and if they're not going to trust them, then they won't be able to use them to their benefit," Kunvanatangarn reasoned. Priorities for the Singapore outpost will be to work with developers, governments, and commercial partners. Kunvanatagarn mused that when it comes to governments, many already "have very good roadmaps on their own." ®