The offer coincides with the company’s first developer conference in India, DevDay Exchange Bengaluru, where local partnerships and initiatives are expected to be announced.

This development is part of OpenAI’s goal to expand in one of its fastest-growing markets, as India plays a very important role in the company’s global strategy. 

The offer comes in the midst of stiff competition from competitors like Google and Perplexity, both of which have recently launched similar promotions aimed at capturing India’s massive AI-curious population.

ChatGPT Go, which was introduced in India in August, is OpenAI’s most affordable paid tier, priced at under $5 a month. It offers 10 times more usage than the free version, allowing users to generate longer responses, create images, and upload files. The plan also includes improved memory, enabling more personalised interactions over time.

Nick Turley, OpenAI’s vice president and head of ChatGPT, said the company has been impressed by user engagement since launching the plan. “Since initially launching ChatGPT Go in India a few months ago, the adoption and creativity we’ve seen from our users has been inspiring,” Turley said. “We’re excited to see the amazing things our users will build, learn, and achieve with these tools.”

India, home to more than 700 million smartphone users and over a billion internet subscribers, has become an essential market for AI adoption. OpenAI opened its New Delhi office in August and is actively hiring to build a local team focused on growth and localisation.

However, while engagement is high, monetisation remains a challenge. According to Appfigures data, ChatGPT recorded about 29 million downloads in the 90 days leading up to August but generated only $3.6 million in in-app purchases during that period. 

The new free offer could help OpenAI enhance user loyalty and drive long-term adoption among students, developers, and small businesses, the demographic groups most likely to benefit from the expanded access.

The timing of the promotion also reveals OpenAI’s response to increased competition in the region. Perplexity recently partnered with Airtel to offer 360 million subscribers free access to Perplexity Pro, while Google has rolled out a complimentary one-year AI Pro plan for Indian students.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Go sits strategically between its free plan and premium Plus tier, offering features such as GPT-5 access, higher message limits, and daily image generation. 

With India being one of its top two markets, behind only the United States, this initiative could help the company balance user growth with sustainable revenue.

In partnership with the AI giant, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) hosted the continent’s first OpenAI Academy, aimed at enhancing AI literacy and empowering African innovators. 

The programme took place from October 16–17, 2025, as part of the University’s 5th International Week themed “Equitable Partnerships and the Future of AI in Africa.” Students, faculty members, and tech leaders were present to explore the opportunities and ethical challenges of AI on the continent.

Speaking during the interactive session at UNILAG, Emmanuel Lubanzadio, Africa lead at OpenAI, said: “This collaboration is important. There’s a sense of urgency to act, not tomorrow, not yesterday, but now.”

The initiative was led by UNILAG’s Office of International Relations, Partnerships and Prospects (IRPP) in collaboration with the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec). 

It aligns with both the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy (2020–2030) and Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy, which prioritise inclusive digital skills and ethical innovation.

Professor Ismail Ibraheem, director of IRPP, said the partnership reveals the University’s global outlook and commitment to locally relevant impact.

“At the University of Lagos, we are intentional about preparing our students to solve the unique needs of our continent through global partnerships. We prioritise inclusive access to digital skills, research, and learning opportunities to empower future innovators. Our goal is to help them approach AI with contextual understanding and ethical responsibility,” he stated.

The OpenAI Academy is a core part of OpenAI’s education mission launched in 2024 to make AI literacy accessible to everyone through free workshops, hands-on sessions, and community-driven learning. 

The Lagos edition, its debut in Africa, featured practical sessions on machine learning, generative AI, AI ethics, responsible innovation, and real-world applications for African contexts.

Lubanzadio described the launch as both a milestone and a call to action for inclusive development.

“Africa is home to some of the world’s most creative, resourceful problem-solvers. We want to make sure they have the tools to turn their ideas into impact. 

“Launching the OpenAI Academy in Lagos is a major step toward supporting the next generation of African innovators, giving them practical skills, connecting them to a global community, and helping ensure that AI reflects African voices and priorities,” he said.

Lubanzadio noted that while UNILAG is the first partner in Nigeria, OpenAI has a bigger goal to expand AI access and literacy across Africa. “You have to start somewhere. Our vision is that AI becomes as accessible as electricity, something everyone can use. But access or AI literacy is not one company’s responsibility. It has to be a multi-stakeholder approach.”

The sessions engaged lecturers and students on AI’s role in education, innovation, and societal development. Conversations ranged from ethical use in academic work to AI’s potential in agriculture, healthcare, and local language preservation.

Lubanzadio noted examples such as Digital Green, which uses OpenAI tools to help farmers identify crop diseases, and Jacaranda Health, which leverages chatbots to assist expectant mothers in Kenya. “It shows how AI can be embedded in essential sectors like health and agriculture,” he explained.

He maintained that the focus should be on balance and human adaptability. “Technology has always disrupted, but humans adapt. We’ve survived every wave of change, AI is no different.”

On the issue of African language representation in AI models, Lubanzadio acknowledged the gap but noted progress. “We recently closed a partnership with Orange, which operates in 18 African countries. We’ve made our open-weight model available for African languages, starting with Wolof. It’s not enough, but it’s a start,” he said.

He further encouraged institutions to engage with OpenAI’s Open Academy, a free learning platform offering AI education resources to students and professionals globally.

Highlighting privacy, data use, and ethics, Lubanzadio clarified that OpenAI allows users to control whether their data is used for model training and complies with data protection laws in every jurisdiction.

He added that responsible AI must be pursued collectively, by policymakers, educators, and the private sector. “AI is here to stay, not as an imposition, but as an opportunity. Everyone has the choice to use it or not, but we must prepare for its presence,” he said.

The Lagos event, which coincided with OpenAI’s rollout of ChatGPT Go, a new, lower-cost subscription tier available in Nigeria and 56 other countries, stresses a growing focus on Africa as an important part of the global AI conversation.

Lubanzadio concluded that this collaboration is “only the beginning” of OpenAI’s long-term engagement with African academia.

“This partnership with UNILAG is not ending today, it’s the start of something bigger. The fact that we’re having this conversation is progress. Let’s build on it,” he said.

The company is making advanced AI tools more accessible in markets where high subscription costs have limited adoption.

The Plus plan, priced at roughly $5 per month in most regions, offers a six-month, 50% discount in selected countries like Nepal and Mexico. It grants users access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, a multimodal AI capable of generating images and videos, alongside integrated productivity features in Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. 

Subscribers also get 200GB of cloud storage and enhanced capabilities within Google’s AI research assistant, NotebookLM, which now supports long-context document analysis, a feature particularly useful for students, researchers, and journalists.

Tools like Flow, Whisk, and Veo 3 Fast are also included. They allow fast creation of animations, visual content, and video assets, directly appealing to the creator economy in regions where mobile-first usage dominates.

The launch comes a day after OpenAI expanded its ChatGPT Go plan to Indonesia, a sub-$5 subscription tier that grants access to GPT-4-turbo but lacks the integrated productivity tools and cloud storage of Google’s Plus tier. 

Analysts see these pricing strategies as a transition from competing on raw AI model power to offering complete ecosystems that integrate seamlessly into daily workflows.

Usage of AI tools in Africa has surged by 240% since 2023, with Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt leading growth, according to Statista and GSMA. Southeast Asia is witnessing similar trends, particularly in Indonesia and Vietnam, where freelancers and small businesses increasingly adopt AI-powered productivity tools.

India, despite being a top AI market where OpenAI debuted ChatGPT Go, is missing from Google’s rollout. Experts say this may relate to ongoing adjustments in pricing and compliance strategies to address data localisation and regulatory challenges.

Google is making AI affordable without sacrificing utility, especially in emerging markets where a $20 subscription is usually prohibitive. For users in Nigeria and similar economies, the new Google AI Plus plan could be a game-changer.

The plan, called ChatGPT Go, is the company’s most affordable paid tier yet, deliberately launched to convert India’s vast free user base into paying subscribers.

Unlike the standard Plus plan, which costs ₹1,999 ($23) a month, Go aims squarely at India’s price-sensitive market. It offers ten times the capacity for messages, image generation, and file uploads compared to the free version, along with extended memory for personalised interactions. 

For the first time, OpenAI has also enabled payments through India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a move expected to make subscriptions easier for millions of users who rely on digital wallets and bank-linked apps.

“Making ChatGPT more affordable has been a key ask from users! We’re rolling out Go in India first and will learn from feedback before expanding to other countries,” said Nick Turley, vice president at OpenAI and head of ChatGPT.

India has become central to OpenAI’s global expansion. CEO Sam Altman recently described it as the company’s second-biggest market, with the potential to overtake the United States. 

Data from app analytics firm AppFigures shows that in the last 90 days alone, more than 29 million ChatGPT downloads came from India. However, revenue from the country during the same period was just $3.6 million, a stark reminder of how few users were willing to pay international prices.

The new plan is designed to bridge this gap. While other AI firms have experimented with giveaways, OpenAI has avoided freebies. Competitors such as Google and Perplexity have launched promotional offers, Google with free one-year AI Pro subscriptions for Indian students, and Perplexity through a partnership with Airtel that gives Pro access to millions of subscribers. 

OpenAI, instead, is banking on localised pricing and payment flexibility to attract long-term, paying customers.

The company’s timing is also deliberate. India’s internet population has surged past 850 million, making it one of the most valuable digital markets globally. As usage of AI-powered tools grows, affordability will remain the deciding factor in whether platforms like ChatGPT become everyday utilities rather than occasional experiments.

With ChatGPT Go, OpenAI is betting that a low-cost but feature-rich plan will finally unlock the spending power of India’s massive user base, while ensuring expansion into other regions with similar market dynamics.