OpenAI, Google Step Up Free AI Offers in India to Win Users and Training Data

OpenAI, Google and Perplexity have intensified competition in India by offering free or heavily discounted access to their artificial intelligence tools, aiming to attract users in the world’s most populous country and tap its vast pool of multilingual data. India, with around 730 million smartphones and among the world’s lowest mobile data costs, has emerged as a critical market for AI adoption and experimentation.

To appeal to price-sensitive users, Google began offering its $400 Gemini AI Pro subscription free for 18 months to hundreds of millions of Reliance Jio customers and later introduced discounted AI packages in India. OpenAI followed by making its ChatGPT Go plan free for a year, a benefit available only in India, while Perplexity offered its $200-a-year Pro tool free to Airtel users. Early data shows a sharp rise in adoption, with India becoming the largest market by daily users for both ChatGPT and Gemini.

Analysts say the freebies are not just about user growth but also about accessing India’s rich linguistic diversity, which can help fill gaps in AI training data. Sensor Tower data shows ChatGPT now has 73 million daily users in India, more than double its U.S. base, while India accounts for over a third of Perplexity’s global daily users. Experts note that Indian user behaviour and language patterns provide valuable stress tests for AI models, even as some users raise concerns about data privacy and opt out of data sharing.

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