Why OpenAI, Google & Perplexity Are Giving Paid AI Tools Free Only In India
Free AI plans in India have sent ChatGPT and Gemini usage soaring, as experts say the real goal isn’t subscriptions, it’s collecting diverse language data for future AI training.
OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are now fighting hard to win artificial intelligence users in India. All three companies have started offering their paid AI tools for free, but only in the Indian market. India’s huge smartphone base, cheap internet, and multilingual population make it extremely valuable for AI companies. As reported by Reuters, experts believe these free plans are not just about growth, but also about collecting diverse language data from Indian users to improve future AI training.
Free AI Tools In India Trigger Massive User Growth
India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, with around 730 million devices. Indians use an average of 21GB of mobile data every month and pay just 9.2 cents per gigabyte, among the lowest rates globally. This makes India ideal for rapid AI adoption.
In November, Google began offering its $400 Gemini AI Pro subscription free for 18 months to 500 million Reliance Jio users. Later, India was added to its discounted “AI Plus” plan.
OpenAI followed by making its ChatGPT Go plan free for one year across India. Earlier, the plan cost $54 in the country and was paid in over 100 other nations.
This strategy led to a sharp rise in usage. ChatGPT’s daily active users in India jumped 607% year-on-year to 73 million, more than double the U.S. Gemini reached 17 million daily users in India, compared to 3 million in the U.S. India is now the biggest market for both tools.
Why India Is Crucial For AI Training Data
Perplexity also entered the India-focused push by offering its $200-a-year Pro plan free for one year to Airtel users. As a result, India now accounts for more than one-third of Perplexity’s global daily users, up from just 7% last year.
AI experts say Indian users provide valuable training data because of their mix of languages, dialects, and communication styles. This helps AI models learn complex patterns missing from existing datasets.
ChatGPT sees the highest engagement, with 46% of its monthly users in India opening the app daily. A PhD student in Hyderabad uses these free tools for hours daily but has opted out of data sharing due to privacy concerns.
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