OpenAI Makes First India Hire, Taps Pragya Misra as Head of Government Relations

OpenAI, the AI firm behind ChatGPT, hires Pragya Misra as its first employee in India to lead government relations, signaling efforts to engage policymakers as countries grapple with regulating generative AI.

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company that spearheaded the global sensation of ChatGPT, has made its first recruit in India through the hiring of Pragya Misra as head of government relations.

39 years old, Misra has been appointed by OpenAI to guide governmental organizations and partnerships in India, as per a report from Bloomberg. Her appointment is a sign of OpenAI's interest in engaging Indian policymakers, as these authorities are now scrutinizing how generative AI technologies are regulated.

Misra came to OpenAI after six months at Truecaller, where she served as the Director of Public Affairs since July 2021, managing relationships with government ministries, stakeholders, investors, and media partners. Beforehand, she had just finished her three-year tour at Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly known as Facebook). She was also the leader of WhatsApp's initiation of misinformation campaign in India in 2018.

Over a period of 15 years, Misra has worked with government relations and public policy, developing her career at Ernst & Young and the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi earlier in her career. She bagged her MBA from International Management Institute and her commerce master's degree from Delhi University. Furthermore, she possesses a diploma in negotiation and bargaining from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Apart from contributing to the professional field, Misra is also a golfer with a reputation for having represented India at several international tournaments, namely between the years 1998 and 2007. Moreover, she is the trainer of Heartfulness Meditation, and she also runs a podcast called "Pragyaan."

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OpenAI's hiring of Misra is made in the backdrop of a three-year-old tech company, whose headquarters is in San Francisco, currently broadening its operations globally after the success of ChatGPT's viral use. Following the trend of generative AI as a disruptive technology, OpenAI may try to set things right in the potential regulatory challenges in India's key marketplace.