OpenAI formally launched its business operation in Brazil on Monday (17), stepping up competition with established rivals such as Google in supplying artificial intelligence models to large companies and consumers.

Anthropic, a newer entrant and OpenAI’s main rival, does not yet have a local operation but sells its AI products in Brazil through partners.

Brazil expansion

Brazil is one of OpenAI’s three largest markets worldwide by active users, with 215 million messages sent to ChatGPT every day, said Oliver Jay, OpenAI’s vice president of international strategy, who attended the event in São Paulo.

“We really want to deepen our commitment to building [the operation] in Brazil,” Jay said.

OpenAI began assembling its local structure in August last year and is still looking for an executive to lead the Brazilian operation.

“A large share of the teams we are hiring consists of deployment engineers who are helping companies generate value,” Jay said.

Last week, he visited developers in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis and Recife.

Corporate projects

Financial institutions Itaú Unibanco and Nubank, car-rental company Localiza and beauty group O Boticário were among the companies cited as OpenAI corporate clients with new AI projects under way.

In the public sector, OpenAI signed a letter of intent with São Paulo’s municipal information and communications technology company Prodam to redesign city government workflows using its AI models. It also entered into an education partnership with the Aeronautics Institute of Technology, or ITA.

On the research front, OpenAI selected the Hospital das Clínicas at the University of São Paulo Medical School and the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, or IMPA, among 14 institutions worldwide that will collectively receive $1 million in funding and up to $1 million in AI credits starting in 2027.

By Daniela Braun — São Paulo