OpenAI plans new Berlin office – AI expansion in Germany

OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, announced plans to open a second German office in Berlin, according to CEO Sam Altman in an interview with Handelsblatt. Currently, the company only has an office in Munich. Altman also advocated for building its own data centers in Germany to secure the growing demand for AI infrastructure. Germany is among the most dynamic markets for OpenAI: by paying subscribers, it is the largest ChatGPT market in Europe and ranks globally in the top three. Altman said the exact opening date for the Berlin office is not yet fixed but should happen 'pretty soon'. He also held talks with government representatives about a potential data center in Berlin, though without concrete results so far. Altman emphasized the company's commitment to data protection for businesses, dismissing concerns that OpenAI uses corporate inputs to further train its AI models, and offering zero-data retention for qualified business customers.