OpenAI’s India hire signals race is shifting from building models to building markets

When Prabhjeet Singh takes charge as OpenAI’s India managing director later this year, he will leave behind one of the best-known consumer technology companies for one of the world’s most closely watched artificial intelligence firms. At one level, it is another high-profile executive transition.

At another, it marks the point where India’s AI story is becoming less about technology and more about execution. Singh’s tenure at Uber may not have prepared him to build large language models, but it may have prepared him for something equally important: building a business in one of the world’s most complex and unpredictable markets.