Indonesia has granted its first “Golden Visa” to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, just a week after the program was launched to attract foreign investment into Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

“There are several categories of golden visas besides those based on investments or capital investments, one of them is the golden visa given to figures with international renown who can bring benefits to Indonesia,” said Silmy Karim, the head of Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration, in a statement.

“With this golden visa, we hope Altman will contribute to the development and utilization of artificial intelligence in Indonesia,” Karim added.

Sam Altman’s golden visa is valid for 10 years.

As a golden visa holder, this American entrepreneur will be entitled to priority checks at airports across Indonesia’s vast archipelago, as well as longer stays and easier entry and exit from the country.

Sam Altman, who co-founded OpenAI along with Elon Musk, visited Indonesia last year as part of his whirlwind tour that took him to several major Asian cities, including Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore.

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that went viral due to its ability to generate human-like responses to user queries. Just two months after its market launch, it reached 100 million users.

Sam Altman and other prominent figures in the tech industry recently warned in an open letter that artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to humanity on par with nuclear war and emphasized that reducing the risks associated with this technology should be a global priority.

Source: CNBC.com