ChatGPT, Gemini: Why OpenAI, Google and Perplexity are offering free AI in India?

Starting this week, millions of Indians will get one year of free access to ChatGPT’s new, low-cost “Go” AI chatbot.

The move follows similar announcements in recent weeks from Google and Perplexity AI, who have partnered with local Indian mobile companies to give users a year or more of free access to their AI tools.

Perplexity tied up with the country’s second largest mobile network provider Airtel, while Google partnered with Reliance Jio, India’s largest telephony giant, to bundle free or discounted AI tools with monthly data packs.

Analysts say such offers shouldn’t be mistaken for generosity as they are calculated investments and a long-term bet on India’s digital future.

“The plan is to get Indians hooked on to generative AI before asking them to pay for it,” Tarun Pathak, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told the BBC.

“What India offers is scale and a young audience,” says Mr Pathak, adding that other big markets like China might rival India in terms of the number of users, but its tightly regulated tech environment limits foreign access.

India, by contrast, offers an open and competitive digital market and global tech is clinching the opportunity to enlist millions of new users here to train their AI models.

OpenAI, Perplexity and Google did not respond to the BBC’s queries.

India has over 900 million…