OpenAI launches commercial operations in Brazil
OpenAI has launched commercial operations in Brazil, establishing a local team in São Paulo to work with businesses, developers, researchers and public institutions. The expansion follows rapid use of its products: Brazil is one of ChatGPT’s three largest markets by weekly active users, with the country’s user base nearly doubling over the past year and approximately 215 million messages sent to ChatGPT each day.
OpenAI said the Brazilian operation is intended to help turn widespread AI adoption into economic and social benefits. The company cited an independent RegLab study, funded by OpenAI, estimating that AI could add nearly R$1 trillion to Brazil’s economy by 2030. It stressed that achieving that potential requires skills, research, responsible deployment and collaboration with Brazilian institutions, rather than technology access alone.
Work use and developer adoption accelerate
New country-level data points to growing workplace use. In June 2026, 35% of classified messages from individual Brazilian ChatGPT accounts were work-related, compared with 30% globally. Of those work-related messages, 53% asked the service to complete a task or produce an output, including drafting proposals, analysing information, writing code and creating marketing materials.
Brazil also ranks second globally by the number of developers using the OpenAI API and is Codex’s largest market in Latin America. Since the beginning of 2026, weekly Codex users in Brazil have increased more than elevenfold, while daily interactions have risen nearly thirtyfold. The number of ChatGPT Enterprise seats has grown fivefold year on year, and Brazil is among OpenAI’s ten largest markets by business customers.
The expansion builds on activity involving Brazilian media groups, as OpenAI’s Grupo Folha and Grupo UOL partnership reflects OpenAI’s work to bring journalism from Grupo Folha and Grupo UOL into ChatGPT. The company now says its São Paulo team will help organisations identify valuable use cases, prepare employees, establish responsible governance and scale projects that prove effective.
Partnerships span education, research and public services
OpenAI outlined several Brazilian initiatives. With the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, it plans to provide ChatGPT Edu accounts for students, faculty and staff, alongside credits for advanced capabilities including reasoning models and Codex. Through its grants programme, Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada will study the conditions research institutions need to turn AI access into scientific progress.
Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo will evaluate a people-first clinical information infrastructure prototype for Brazil’s public health system, with physician judgment and human oversight retained. OpenAI is also developing a national AI-literacy programme for legal professionals with ENTER, and free mobile-first training for micro and small-business owners with Estímulo.
In public administration, OpenAI and the city of São Paulo, through Prodam, signed a memorandum of understanding to make AI available to São Paulo and other public administrations across Brazil. The company also ran its first OpenAI para Devs roadshow in Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis and São Paulo, bringing together 285 participants for Portuguese-language technical sessions, workshops and Codex demonstrations.
A practical implication for organisations
For Brazilian organisations, OpenAI’s local presence increases access to implementation support, training and partnerships, but the company’s own framework makes the operational priority clear: select concrete use cases, equip people to use the tools and establish responsible governance before expanding successful deployments.