US tech giant OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is opening an office in Paris, the company announced today — confirming previous reporting by Sifted.
It brings its total number of European offices to three, having announced its London hub in 2023 before expanding to Dublin.
The Paris office will open later this year, and reflects “France’s leadership in AI and its flourishing tech ecosystem,” OpenAI said in a statement.
The US company also announced that it will open offices in Brussels, Singapore and New York later this year.
OpenAI’s Paris office
Opening an office in Paris will enable OpenAI to tap into a burgeoning AI ecosystem and allow it to access France’s “pool of talent,” the company said.
Although it didn’t specify how many employees it is planning to recruit in France, OpenAI said the company will be looking for roles in research, commercial development, marketing and communication.
French secretary of state for AI and digital Clara Chappaz said: “The opening of an OpenAI office in Paris shows the attractivity of France and the quality of our talent and researchers.”
The company previously organised a meetup in the French capital to connect with Paris’s AI developers and startups, and expects to organise more community events.
“With a team on the ground, we will be able to collaborate closely with French enterprises, institutions and developers,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.
The company said that expanding to France will enable it to get closer to potential customers, but also reinforce its relationship with the French government when it comes to AI policy.
An AI hub
The long-anticipated news comes as France increasingly establishes itself as a hub for AI in Europe.
In the past two years, the country has seen the emergence of several high-profile companies in the sector. The French capital has seen high demand for AI talent as a result — a market set to become even more competitive with a new player in the field.
One of the most notable startups in the space is Gen AI scaleup Mistral, which has raised over €1bn in less than a year since launching in 2023. Mistral builds a technology similar to OpenAI’s and is considered one of Europe’s most promising competitors to the US tech giant.
Last week, OpenAI announced it had raised $6.6bn in fresh funding at a $157bn valuation — a similar valuation to that of a publicly traded business like Uber. According to the company, up to 250m people use ChatGPT every week.
