Sandhya Devanathan, Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, will exit the social‑media company to join OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. OpenAI announced that Devanathan will be based in Singapore and will report to the firm’s Asia‑Pacific managing director, Kiran Mani. Her new portfolio includes consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnership development, regulatory engagement and operational oversight for Southeast Asia and Australia.
Devanathan’s departure ends more than ten years at Meta. She arrived in 2016 and has held several senior roles, from leading the company’s Asia‑Pacific gaming business to being appointed vice president for India and Southeast Asia in June of last year. Following her exit, Meta’s India managing director, Arun Srinivas, will report directly to Benjamin Joe, Meta’s vice president for Asia Pacific.
OpenAI’s hire is part of a broader push into the Asia‑Pacific market. Over the past two years the firm has opened offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Delhi. The addition of Devanathan follows the recent appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as OpenAI’s India head; Singh spent more than a decade at Uber, where he led its India and South Asia operations.
Meta’s leadership shuffle occurs amid escalating pressure from Indian regulators. Earlier this month the company apologized after Instagram mistakenly limited a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi summoned Meta executives, including chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, to discuss the incident. Authorities have also raised alarms over child sexual‑abuse material circulating on Meta’s platforms. After a BBC report highlighted Instagram ads that appeared to promote such content, the Indian government demanded an explanation. Meta responded by saying it had removed the offending ads and accounts and denied any intentional targeting of users based on inappropriate interests. The firm also reported that it had deleted 160,000 accounts in India over six months after detecting signals of child‑exploitative activity.
OpenAI’s expansion and Devanathan’s move signal the firm’s intent to deepen its foothold in a region where regulatory landscapes are rapidly evolving. By appointing a leader familiar with both the consumer market and the intricacies of government engagement, OpenAI aims to navigate the challenges that have recently beset Meta while positioning its AI tools for broader adoption across businesses and everyday users.
Este artículo fue escrito con la asistencia de IA.
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