TOKYO, April 15 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) backed

artificial intelligence startup OpenAI made a pitch for business

in Japan on Monday as it opened its first Asia office in Tokyo.

The startup, which has caused excitement among consumers

since the launch of its ChatGPT generative AI chatbot in late

2022, is looking to grow new sources of revenue globally.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Chief Operating Officer Brad

Lightcap have hosted of hundreds Fortune 500 company executives

in the United States and Britain this month to pitch for

business, Reuters has reported.

Altman last year said he was considering a Japan location

after meeting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The startup has also

opened offices in London and Dublin.

Japan hopes to take advantage of AI as it looks to compete

with an increasingly assertive China, accelerate the shift to

digital services and alleviate deepening labour shortages.

OpenAI on Monday said it has a custom model optimised for

the Japanese language and that Tadao Nagasaki, who was president

of Amazon Web Services in Japan, is heading the Japan business.

While the country is seen as a laggard in the technology,

local companies including telcos SoftBank and NTT

are investing in large language models.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) said last week it would invest $2.9 billion over

two years in cloud and AI infrastructure in Japan, part of a

wave of investment globally by U.S. tech giants.