OpenAI to open Paris office – Technologist

OpenAI will now have a team in France. On Wednesday, October 9, the artificial intelligence (AI) company based in San Francisco announced that it would be opening an office in Paris “later this year,” its “first in continental Europe.” Already present in London, also the original headquarters of Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind, the creator of the ChatGPT conversational robot announced on the same day that it would be setting up offices in Brussels, New York and Singapore. The announcement of the forthcoming Paris opening comes after the publication, in mid-September, of an article in L’Informé (a media outlet launched by Xavier Niel, an individual shareholder in Le Monde).

“France is world-renowned for its innovation and leadership in technology and AI,” said company founder Sam Altman in the release. “We’re thrilled to open an office in Paris later this year and be part of its vibrant ecosystem. With a team on-site, we’ll be able to work closely with French companies, institutions and developers to help them take full advantage of the benefits of AI.”

Opening offices in the capitals of foreign countries is an almost necessary step in the evolution of major US tech companies. The Silicon Valley giants often set up shop in Paris gradually. Founded in 1998, Google, for example, has had a commercial presence there since 2004, opening its headquarters in 2011 and an AI lab in 2018, occupying a new building. Launched in France in 2014 from the Netherlands, Netflix opened an office in 2018 and then its current headquarters in 2020, with French productions.

The aim is generally to support sales development in major markets, and to give a sign of local presence in countries where regulation is a major issue.

Sales-oriented team

OpenAI seems to be following the same path. The office does not at this stage have a director for France, and will report to the group’s vice president of finance, Janine Korovesis. Future employees – the number is not known – will be in “research, business development, marketing and communications positions,” said the company. The team appears to be predominantly commercial.

At the cutting edge, but still loss-making and subject to increased competition from other developers of AI models aimed at professionals, OpenAI will be looking to strengthen its position on the French market by organizing a “summit for business leaders and partners,” following an initial presentation made in May at the Gaité-Lyrique, on the sidelines of the VivaTech trade show. The US group also mentioned a “series of community events and hackathons at Station F,” the start-up incubator launched by Niel.

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