Indian Startup Founders Push OpenAI to Offer Region-Specific AI Pricing - Related to key, solutions, 1, up, startup

ABB is Shaking Things Up with Tangible AI Solutions

While many companies are caught up in the AI hype cycle, ABB, an industrial robot supplier and manufacturer, has been building and implementing practical AI solutions for nearly a decade.

In an interview with AIM, Sami Atiya, president of the robotics and discrete automation at ABB, expressed how the firm has taken a measured, value-driven approach to AI innovation, which is delivering results across multiple industries.

“We at ABB had our first research done in AI more than a decade ago, in 2014. It’s already implemented in many of the systems we use today,” noted Atiya. This long-term perspective has helped ABB distinguish between AI hype and genuine technological maturity.

This, , is a critical approach considering the cycles of inflated expectations and subsequent “AI winters” that have shaped technological development over the past few years.

Rather than creating centralised AI teams or pursuing grand projects, ABB has adopted a distributed, customer-centric approach. “What we learned is we don’t drive technology from the top of central needs. We drive it from customer needs,” Atiya explained.

The organization maintains an AI Council that coordinates activities, manages an AI repository, and oversees education initiatives while allowing individual teams to develop solutions based on specific customer requirements.

This approach has allowed ABB to categorise and track projects across the enterprise, distinguishing between implemented solutions, pipeline developments, and exploratory ideas. This method, Atiya mentioned, not only ensures that promising concepts are nurtured but also avoids the pitfall of investing in ideas that may not materialise.

Over the last decade, ABB has expanded its AI portfolio to include over 250 projects, many of which are already delivering tangible results. “Most of these projects here are available for purchase today,” Atiya presented.

One of ABB’s most impressive achievements is in robotic vision and navigation. The firm has developed AI systems that allow robots to recognise and handle objects they’ve never encountered before. “What our research has done is that we now have a neural network that can recognise the shape of the object that it has not seen before,” explained Atiya.

Another groundbreaking implementation is in factory navigation. Using the Visual SLAM navigation technology, powered by AI and 3D visual detection, robots can now navigate complex factory environments without requiring physical guides or markers.

“The robot actually goes around, figures out where it is, and then starts creating a map… You put another robot in, they talk to each other, and they learn,” Atiya described this advancement.

AI’s Role in Sustainability and Workforce Evolution.

Sustainability is a cornerstone of ABB’s AI strategy. This was highlighted during a panel discussion led by Sara Larsson, CEO at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce India, featuring leading AI experts like Khushaal Popli, program director, IIT Bombay; Kishan Sreenath, VP, Powertrain, VolvoGroup; and Kaushik Dey, head of research, Ericsson.

Panel discussion at ABB, Bengaluru campus. (From left to right) Sara Larsson, Kaushik Dey, Kishan Sreenath, Khushaal Popli, Sami Atiya, and Subrata Karmakar.

AI-powered solutions like building analysers optimise energy consumption by integrating weather forecasts, operational data, and energy patterns. These efforts not only improve efficiency but also support global sustainability goals.

As industries evolve, so too must their workforces. ABB invests significantly in upskilling its employees by combining AI expertise with engineering knowledge.

Atiya also shared insights into ABB’s hackathons and training programs, including a recent initiative in India that trained 2,000 employees on AI on the same day and generated over 200 new AI use cases.

He explained this as a compact way of reinforcing and energising the teams. “It’s not just about hiring AI experts; it’s about expanding the capabilities of our existing teams,” he remarked.

ABB’s Strategic Upskilling and Recruitment.

ABB’s leadership in AI extends beyond technological advancements to strategic talent acquisition and workforce development. With over 10,000 employees in India, ABB leverages the country’s exceptional talent pool across engineering and software domains.

, ABB recruits top-notch professionals while maintaining a low attrition rate, owing to its strong reputation and focus on employee growth and education. “We like to keep our employees,” Atiya mentioned.

However, the organization’s strategy isn’t limited to external hiring; upskilling its existing workforce is a key priority. He emphasised the importance of blending AI expertise with engineering disciplines like mechatronics to foster innovation.

This approach ensures ABB’s teams are equipped with both technical knowledge and domain-specific expertise, which is critical for solving industry challenges. “It’s not about hiring AI experts alone; it’s about expanding the capabilities of our own people,” Atiya highlighted.

By cultivating multidisciplinary teams and prioritising lifelong learning, ABB is building a workforce ready to lead industrial transformation. This reaffirms its commitment to people as its greatest strength.

In addition, Atiya also emphasised at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, “Like robotics, AI will lead to new jobs and change the way we work. We must inspire innovation and emphasise the importance of learning and upskilling to realise its benefits.”.

ABB’s success is built on collaboration. To foster innovation, it works with startups, universities, and technology leaders. Partnerships like its acquisition of Sevensense for advanced robot navigation and ongoing collaborations with IIT Bombay are vital to scaling breakthroughs.

Atiya was candid about the challenges of AI, particularly the risks of bias and data misalignment.

He stressed the importance of synthetic data in addressing the shortage of real-world training data but warned of the risks of amplifying existing biases if quality controls are inadequate.

He also acknowledged that while generative AI and LLMs have potential, they face limitations.

The Future of Human-Machine Collaboration.

Atiya sees natural language interaction as the next frontier for human-machine collaboration. ABB is pioneering systems that enable robots to understand complex verbal commands, such as arranging objects based on human instructions.

“In the past, we had to learn the language of machines. In the future, machines will learn ours,” he noted. This focus on human-centric AI aligns with ABB’s broader mission of enhancing human capabilities, not replacing them.

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MLDS 2025: Key Highlights from Day 1

Day one of MLDS 2025, India’s biggest GenAI summit for developers, hosted by AIM Media House, was a day filled with energy, excitement, and forward-thinking discussions. The day witnessed the presence of close to 1000 attendees.

One of the day’s interesting talks came from Rahul Bhattacharya, AI leader at GDS consulting, EY, who delved into the world of the agentic workforce, the next frontier in AI-driven workspaces. Bhattacharya highlighted how assessing the risks of integrating AI agents into the workforce is just as crucial as measuring the benefits.

He broke down what makes a system truly “agentic.” To be considered an agent, Bhattacharya explained, a system must have the ability to interact with its environment, make decisions based on its observations, and learn from its actions to continuously improve.

He elaborated, “A key ability is making decisions, where the agent chooses the best action based on set rules, goals, or rewards. Over time, it should learn from past experiences and feedback to improve its performance.” This blend of adaptability and decision-making could redefine how we think about work in the future.

Rahul Bhattacharya, AI leader at GDS consulting, EY.

In the digital content world, where video has taken center stage, Arvind Sasikumar, co-founder and CTO at Quinn, shared his insights on the critical importance of video compression.

Sasikumar emphasised that optimising video transcoding isn’t just about reducing file sizes, but it’s about enhancing the user experience by eliminating buffering, which can be a dealbreaker for viewers. He explained how even a 5% reduction in file size can make all the difference for clients with lower internet speeds.

“Consider this: If 100 people have a [website] Mbps connection but the video they’re watching requires a 2 Mbps bitrate, every single one of them will face buffering. But by optimising compression, we can ensure that all 100 people enjoy smooth playback,” Sasikumar mentioned.

Arvind Sasikumar, co-founder and CTO at Quinn.

As organisations race to integrate AI into their business strategies, there are hurdles to overcome. Chirag Jain, vice president of AI Practice at Genpact, took the stage to shed light on why businesses must first define their long-term goals before jumping into AI implementation.

He compared it to the vision of a sports team– just as India’s cricket team aspires to be the best in the world, businesses also require a clear, long-term goal to guide their AI strategy.

Jain underscored that a strategy grounded in core values, ethical considerations, and regulatory compliance is key to ensuring AI’s success within an organisation. “Nobody likes to see a team playing unfairly,” he stated, reinforcing the need for transparency and ethical decision-making in AI adoption.

Chirag Jain, vice president of AI Practice at Genpact.

The day also featured Siddhant Goswami, co-founder at 100xEngineers and Tech Influencer, who spoke on the evolving role of AI agents. While AI agents are becoming increasingly autonomous, Goswami reminded the audience that human intervention is still essential.

“We can’t completely rely autonomously on them. We need human feedback. These agents are self-directed, capable of planning and executing multiple steps based on feedback and updated goals,” Goswami shared.

Siddhant Goswami, co-founder at 100xEngineers and Tech Influencer.

The excitement continued with a workshop by Gopala Dhar, an AI engineer at Google Cloud, and Lavi Nigam, a developer relations engineer at Google Cloud, on building real-time applications with the Gemini Multimodal Live API. This hands-on workshop served as a holistic guide to using Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to create sophisticated applications that can see, hear, and interact naturally.

Also, the day witnessed several paper presentations, including Life Stage Customer Segmentation by Fine-tuning Large Language Models by Nikita Katyal, Head of Analytics and AI at Central Retail Corporation, and Vivek Vishwas Vichare; A Context-Aware Multi-Agentic Multi-Modal LLM Architecture for Digital Marketing by Vivek Vishwas Vichare, head of data sciences and analytics at Pixis, and more.

These papers showcased the innovative ways AI and generative models are reshaping industries like retail, digital marketing, and healthcare, demonstrating the immense potential of AI to solve complex problems across various domains.

Day one of MLDS 2025 left attendees with plenty to think about.

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Indian Startup Founders Push OpenAI to Offer Region-Specific AI Pricing

As the Indian founders met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and their leadership team in Delhi, the sentiment was clear – tech leaders pushed for region-specific pricing for OpenAI’s models in India.

We at AIM had pointed out earlier the implications of high-cost and premium pricing models for advanced tools in a country like India.

India’s significance in the global AI ecosystem is visible, and Altman reinforced that by calling it its second-biggest market. India prides itself on having one of the best developer and startup ecosystems.

Indian leaders, including policymakers, venture capitalists, developers, and founders, met for a closed-door roundtable meeting to discuss how OpenAI’s models can support businesses in India.

Kunal Bahl, co-founder at Snapdeal, who was part of the event, took to X to share that OpenAI’s leadership team acknowledged its high pricing and the need for significant cuts for mass adoption, with possible updates ahead.

In his post, Bahl says OpenAI acknowledged that foundational models reach 80-90% efficiency and require a robust application layer for full industry-specific use—crucial for startups in this space.

Many startups are building on OpenAI’s models on the application layer. HealthifyMe’s Tushar Vashisht, who was also present at the event, stated, “AI+human coaches, tutors, doctors—coming soon from India for India and the world.”.

In an AIM podcast earlier, OpenAI’s policy lead Pragya Misra cited Healthify and Be My Eyes as examples of the business’s impact on the Indian market and beyond. She highlighted how Indian startups are already developing products for a global audience.

The roundtable saw key players from India’s startup scene, including Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal, Fractal’s Srikanth Velamakanni, Ixigo’s Aloke Bajpai, and Aakrit Vaish, who advises the India AI Mission.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnav is optimistic about India’s youth on pushing innovation to the next level while keeping costs down.

Speaking at the event, he compared it to the Chandrayaan mission, asking why the same ambition and efficiency couldn’t be brought to developing large language models (LLMs).

Addressing costs, Altman pointed out that AI training costs will continue to rise exponentially, so do the returns in intelligence. That noted, Altman noted that the corporation will continue to make solutions unique for India’s needs.

The meeting took place amid growing competition from Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, which states to offer AI models comparable to OpenAI, Meta, and Google, at significantly lower costs and is open-source. The meeting focused on discussing Indian user preferences and API pricing.

Touching upon the lower cost of DeepSeek APIs, speaking to Moneycontrol, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma expressed, “Although Sam did not commit to anything, he expressed that options of open sourcing and reducing costs are both on the table.”.

It is interesting to note that Altman in the recent past conceded that the future of AI will ultimately be open-source in an AMA session on Reddit. “I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open-source strategy,” he noted. “Not everyone at OpenAI shares this view,” Altman noted.

At the event, Altman discussed deep research, a new capability in ChatGPT that independently conducts multi-step research on the Internet. “Deep research can perform a single-digit percentage of all economic, time-consuming tasks. It can make you twice as efficient,” he presented.

Funnily, in just 24 hours since the launch of OpenAI’s Deep Research, an open-source version of the tool was built on HuggingFace, scoring 55% on GAIA, one of the leading benchmarks for AI assistants. Just as startup founders questioned API pricing, India’s price-sensitive market implies that a uniform pricing strategy for AI models may not be as effective from a consumer standpoint.

While AI accessibility is improving, true adoption in India hinges on both usability and affordability. Simplified interfaces help, but without cost-effective pricing, AI may remain out of reach for many.

OpenAI now offers ChatGPT Pro at $200/month and is rumoured to introduce plans up to $2,000/month due to high compute costs of advanced models.

While economics often sees costs decrease over time. Many people responded to Altman on X, highlighting that in the current realm, $200 per month is comparable to salaries and average incomes in many economies outside the US – suggesting that AI subscription pricing cannot be the same globally. In India, for instance, the average monthly income is around ₹20,000.

“The potential of advanced AI models with AGI capabilities in India lies in their ability to deeply integrate with the country’s diverse and localised contexts,” revealed Digital Empowerment Foundation’s Osama Manzar. He was speaking in the context of making AI more accessible and bridging the urban-rural divide.

“For these technologies to meaningfully impact the daily lives of average Indians and create new opportunities, the approach must prioritise hyper-localised content generation,” he added.

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