09:00 AM EDT, 04/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) -backed OpenAI said Tadao Nagasaki has joined OpenAI Japan as its president.

Nagasaki said he joined the company after working for more than 12 years at Amazon's ( AMZN ) Amazon Web Services unit.

He will head OpenAI's commercial and market engagement efforts and support the establishment of its local team, the company said.

OpenAI also said it is expanding into Asia with a new office in Tokyo, its first in the region.

"As a first step in our long-term commitment to the region, we're providing local businesses with early access to a GPT-4 custom model specifically optimized for the Japanese language," the company added.