Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
The AI chatbot market appears to be at the crossroads. The frenzy of the top guns in the business to acquire more customers in India suggests one of two things – either they need oxygen in the form of new customers for growth (revenues aren’t on the table now) or their fear of legislation in home territory is making them rush into newer ones.
If Perplexity tied up with Airtel to offer free AI subscriptions three months ago, OpenAI and Google almost fell over each other to deliver their respective chatbots to lure customers across India. While Sam Altman’s company announced the freebies in general, Sundar Pichai partnered with Reliance Jio to provide AI Pro free of cost with their 5G plans.
Yesterday, we had covered two separate instances across the world that told a story of its own – that is if we cared to join the dots. The first involved an AI startup blocking off its open-ended conversations with those under-18 and other related to the market leader offering freebies to an aspiring subset of a large population.
If OpenAI has arrived, can Google be far behind?
Desperate times need desperate measures it seems. Google came out with their latest announcement barely two days after OpenAI offered free access to its sub-$5 dollar ChatGPT Go plan too all users in India starting November 4. On its part, OpenAI had launched this entry-level tier in August, a month after Perplexity delivered its freebies.
Per Google’s statement, it has tied up with Reliance Industries to bundle the AI Pro subscription with the former’s Jio 5G plans at no extra cost. This would be available to all eligible Jio users for the next 18 months. Interestingly, Google’s two rivals have offered freebies only for 12 months from the start date.
While Perplexity set its sights on Airtel’s 360 million subscribers, Google has snared around 505 million handsets that are aligned with Reliance Jio telephony services. Perplexity offered the $200 worth Pro subscription in the hope that it would lure India’s active base of tech-savvy users. Though others didn’t immediately follow suit, it did prompt Google to launch its AI-powered Overviews in the country before it did in other markets.
What is making the AI giants make a beeline for India?
The pace at which AI giants are seeking out Indian customers reminds us of the mid-1990s where India’s upwardly mobile middle class was the target of yet another push for customers. The nascent mobile telephony industry made a beeline for our shores with everyone and their uncles starting a venture in collaboration with a local player. That only three of these are left in India after three decades of that gold rush is a telling comment.
The situation is much the same for the AI business. The world’s most populous nation, the second largest internet market, a billion users (albeit very low end ones) and the lure of a bunch tech-savvy early adopters. Who can really ignore such a potent mix in a country that is yet to witness an indigenous AI breakthrough.
As for the big companies making a beeline for India, the obvious resource is the availability of diverse data sets that could refine models, test smarter or sharper AI use cases that could be later used to scale across other countries. Remember stories of how ChatGPT leapfrogged ahead with their chatbot by using real users in the African subcontinent to make ChatGPT less toxic? The story made the front pages of The Time magazine back in 2023.
Perplexity waived off $200 per user, Google has doubled this
Coming to Google’s latest offer, the search giant appears to have learnt a few lessons from its rivals who are in the dock over mental health issues faced by users. The offer from Jio would limit users between 18 and 25 years of age before expanding across India. It will provide access to Gemini 2.5 Pro model via the Gemini app, higher limits for generating AI images and videos with Nano Banana and Veo 3.1.
It also offers users expanded use of Notebook LM for research and 2TB of cloud storage across Google Photos, Gmail, Google Drive and WhatsApp backups. Reliance Jio believes that this tie-up would also explore more local experiences powered by AI to Jio users. But, it does not elaborate on this point.
If Perplexity was ready to waive off $200 per user for acquiring a market share in India, Google is foregoing almost double that amount as part of this offer. The Google AI Pro costs $22 a month in India and includes a one-month trial. The 18-month offer from Jio and Google is priced at $396. Earlier this year, Google had offered AI Pro subscriptions free for one year to the student community, which was open till September 15.
In case some of you out there hasn’t decided which of the freebies they would rather opt for in the short term, the excellent folks over at Gadgets 360 have come up with this comparison of the offers from Perplexity, OpenAI and Google. You can check out the story and the comparison chart right here.
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