Meta’s India and Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan joins OpenAI

In short: Meta executive Sandhya Devanathan is leaving the company to join OpenAI, where she will help run parts of OpenAI’s work in Southeast Asia and Australia.

What happened

Sandhya Devanathan, Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, is moving to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. OpenAI said she will be based in Singapore and report to its Asia-Pacific managing director, Kiran Mani.

In her new job, Devanathan will oversee consumer growth, business use, partnerships, talks with regulators, and day-to-day operations across Southeast Asia and Australia. “Regulators” are government bodies that set and enforce rules, similar to a referee making sure the game is played fairly.

Devanathan is leaving Meta after more than a decade at the company. Her move comes as OpenAI expands in the region, including opening offices in places such as Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, and Delhi. OpenAI recently also hired Prabhjeet Singh as its India head.

Meta is also dealing with increased scrutiny in India. Earlier this month, Meta apologized after Instagram mistakenly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Indian government summoned Meta executives. Indian authorities have also raised concerns about child sexual abuse material and ads on Meta’s platforms, following reporting by the BBC.

Why it matters

Leadership changes like this can shape how major tech services operate in fast-growing markets. OpenAI is building local teams, which can affect how quickly its products reach people and businesses, and how it responds to local laws. At the same time, Meta’s pressure in India highlights ongoing public concerns about what appears on large social platforms and how quickly harmful content is removed.

Source: TechCrunch AI