OpenAI Opens Commercial Operations in Brazil With a São Paulo Office
BRAZIL · TECHNOLOGY
Key Facts
- —What happened OpenAI opened commercial operations in Brazil on 27 August, with an office in São Paulo.
- —Why Brazil The country is ChatGPT’s third-largest market, sending about 215 million messages a day.
- —The real story Brazil hosts the company’s first office in the Americas outside the United States.
- —The catch The touted R$1 trillion (US$194 billion) economic gain comes from a study the company itself funded.
- —Who it touches Deals span the ITA engineering school, the IMPA mathematics institute, a top hospital and São Paulo’s city hall.
- —What comes next Enterprise sales are the target, with Brazilian corporate seats already up fivefold in a year.
OpenAI opened commercial operations in Brazil on 27 August, choosing São Paulo for its first office in the Americas outside the United States after the country became ChatGPT’s third-largest market.
What the company announced
OpenAI launched its commercial operation in Brazil on Thursday 27 August. The office sits in the city of São Paulo, the country’s business capital.
It is the company’s first office in the Americas outside the United States. No other Latin American country hosts a direct presence from the company.
The move turns a huge informal user base into a formal market. Brazilian companies can now buy its services through a local commercial team.
The announcement confirmed reporting from 18 August that Brazil would be the company’s first beachhead on the continent. Reuters and Brazilian outlets confirmed the launch on the day.
The company did not say how many people the office will employ. Brazil-based job postings are expected to follow in the coming weeks.
The office also gives the company a local face for regulators. Brazil’s Congress and courts are actively debating rules for artificial intelligence.
The numbers behind the decision
Brazil is ChatGPT’s third-largest market in weekly active users. Brazilians send roughly 215 million messages to the chatbot every day.
The user base nearly doubled over the past year, according to the company’s own statement. Growth of that speed is rare in a market of this size.
Usage skews toward work more than elsewhere. In June, 35 percent of individual messages in Brazil were job-related, against a 30 percent global average.
Of those work messages, 53 percent asked the model to execute a task or produce a concrete result. Brazilians use the tool to get things done, not just to chat.
The work orientation matters for the sales pitch. Enterprise products sell best where people already use the tools for their jobs.
Developers tell the same story. Brazil ranks second worldwide in users of the company’s programming interface for developers.
Brazil is also the largest Latin American market for Codex, the company’s coding tool. Weekly Codex users have grown more than elevenfold since the start of 2026.
The country holds the world’s highest usage rate of ChatGPT’s image feature. It sits in the top five for voice and dictation, with weekly voice users doubling in a year.
The partnership programme
The launch came with a bundle of institutional deals. In education, the ITA engineering school will receive ChatGPT Edu accounts for students, faculty and staff.
The ITA deal includes credits for reasoning models and for Codex. That puts the company’s most advanced tools directly into engineering classrooms.
In research, the IMPA mathematics institute will study how artificial intelligence access can speed up science. Hospital das Clínicas, the country’s largest hospital complex, will test a clinical-information prototype for the public health system.
Two further deals target skills. ENTER will train legal professionals in artificial intelligence, while Estímulo will teach small business owners for free.
The public sector deal may prove the most consequential. São Paulo’s city government signed a cooperation memorandum through its technology arm, Prodam.
The goal is to bring the tools to municipal administration first. Other Brazilian city halls could follow through the same channel.
None of the partnership announcements disclosed financial terms. They are framed as cooperation agreements rather than purchases.
The trillion-real promise, and its caveat
The company arrived with a headline number. An independent RegLab study estimates artificial intelligence could add nearly R$1 trillion (US$194 billion) to Brazil’s economy by 2030.
The figure deserves one clear caveat. OpenAI funded the study itself, even if outside researchers ran it.
The document itself makes the honest point that access alone delivers nothing. Training, research and responsible implementation decide whether the money ever materialises.
Most independent forecasts for Brazil are far more conservative. The study’s number is a ceiling, not a baseline.
What it means for foreigners and businesses
For companies operating in Brazil, the practical change is contractual. Enterprise deals, local support and billing now run through a Brazilian commercial structure.
Foreign firms already in the country can sign the same local contracts. The office removes the need to deal with a distant sales desk in another language.
The corporate market was already moving. ChatGPT Enterprise seats in Brazil quintupled year on year, and the country ranks among the company’s ten largest enterprise markets.
Competition for those corporate seats will be fierce. Google and Anthropic already court the same Brazilian enterprise clients.
For expatriates, the shift is subtler but real. Public services, hospitals and schools you deal with may soon run on these tools.
Brazilian users should note what the office is not. It is a commercial and partnerships operation, not a local data centre, and user data still flows abroad.
What to watch from here
The first marker is hiring. The size of the local team will show whether Brazil is a sales office or a regional hub.
The second is the Prodam rollout. A working artificial-intelligence deployment in São Paulo’s city services would be a reference for the whole country.
Data protection is the other open file. Brazil’s data protection authority has challenged big tech firms over training data before.
The third is the next office. If Brazil works as a hub, other Latin American capitals will lobby for the same treatment.
For now the scoreboard is clear. Brazil has the users, the developers and, as of this week, the office.
For now, Brazil moves from being the company’s audience to being its customer. Future revenue disclosures will show how much that is worth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did OpenAI announce in Brazil?
OpenAI launched commercial operations in Brazil on 27 August 2026, with an office in São Paulo. It is the company’s first office in the Americas outside the United States.
How big is ChatGPT in Brazil?
Brazil is ChatGPT’s third-largest market by weekly active users, with about 215 million messages sent daily. Usage nearly doubled in the past year.
What partnerships did OpenAI sign in Brazil?
Deals cover education at the ITA engineering school, research at the IMPA mathematics institute, healthcare at Hospital das Clínicas and a cooperation memorandum with São Paulo’s city government.
Connected Coverage
We covered the company’s local advertising test in ChatGPT Ads Brazil Pilot to Test AI Monetization, the board appointment in Nubank Founder David Vélez Joins OpenAI Board Ahead of IPO and the election rules in Brazil’s TSE Brings OpenAI, Anthropic and ElevenLabs Into 2026 Election Disinformation Pact. More on the country on our Brazil hub.
Sources: OpenAI official statement; Reuters; RegLab study on artificial intelligence in Brazil; g1 Globo; Olhar Digital.
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