OpenAI has announced the opening of a new office in Tokyo to drive its expansion into the Asian market.

The new office aims to foster collaboration with the Japanese government, local businesses, and research institutions to develop AI tools tailored to Japan’s unique requirements.

Tokyo was selected for OpenAI’s first Asian venture due to its global leadership in technology, a culture dedicated to service, and an innovative community.

“We’re excited to be in Japan which has a rich history of people and technology coming together to do more,” explained Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “We believe AI will accelerate work by empowering people to be more creative and productive, while also delivering broad value to current and new industries that have yet to be imagined.”

To ensure effective engagement within the local community and spearhead OpenAI’s initiatives in Japan, Tadao Nagasaki has been welcomed as the president of OpenAI Japan. Nagasaki’s role will involve leading commercial and market engagement efforts and building a local team to progress global affairs, go-to-market, communications, operations, and other functions catered to Japan.

OpenAI is granting local businesses early access to a customised GPT-4 model optimised for the Japanese language. This custom model boasts