Sam Altman, a prominent figure in the tech industry and ChatGPT founder made an appearance at an exclusive OpenAI event held at the Muson Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, on Friday, May 19, 2023. The event drew a notable crowd of tech executives, investors, and founders.
The event featured two parts, starting with a Q&A session where attendees had the opportunity to engage with Altman. This was followed by a meet and greet session, allowing participants to personally connect with him.
Sudhanshu Gaurav, Co-founder of Incash, expressed enthusiasm about the event, stating, “It was a great event. Looking forward to integrating AI into our startup and cannot wait to see how it makes a huge difference to the African Tech space in the next few years.”
According to reliable sources, Altman’s visit to Nigeria may be his only stop in Africa before heading to Europe on the same day as the event. There are also indications that OpenAI is actively seeking developers in the country.
While the company has not officially disclosed the purpose of Altman’s visit, Olusola Ayoola from RAIN Technologies stated that Altman is here to understand how OpenAI “can meet our needs in Nigeria.”
Nigeria, known for housing Africa’s most active tech hub, has already witnessed the emergence of remarkable AI-generated products from talented developers. Notable examples include Justin Irabor’s Kainene Vos Savant and Richmond Alake’s audio-to-text AI automation tool, along with research partners on Telegram.
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the public in November 2022, showcasing its impressive ability to quickly acquire and adapt new knowledge. The advanced language model has generated considerable excitement due to its conversational question-answering capabilities.
In addition to engaging with OpenAI users and developers, Altman revealed plans to interact with lawmakers to gather feedback and ideas regarding AI. Just two days prior, OpenAI’s CEO addressed the U.S. Senate, expressing support for government oversight of artificial intelligence.
