Big AI Firms Offer Free Premium Services in India: A Strategy to Capture Users and Data

Several prominent artificial intelligence companies are making significant inroads into the Indian market by offering their premium AI services free of charge. Aravind Srinivas’s Perplexity partnered with Airtel to provide its Pro version, while Reliance Jio is offering 18 months of free Gemini Pro to young users, and OpenAI has also made its premium plans accessible at no cost. This approach is seen by tech watchers as a classic 'bait and switch' tactic, designed to hook users with free access and then monetize them once they become dependent on higher-quality AI outputs.

Experts like Santosh Desai note that these firms are actively inducing demand, a necessity driven by the rapid pace of AI development. The strategy mirrors Jio's past success in disrupting the telecom market with free data. However, unlike the clear user benefits in faster data or quick delivery, the added value of premium AI over free versions for casual users is less defined.

The underlying objective for these 'Big AI' companies extends beyond mere user acquisition; India's vast user base offers an unparalleled opportunity to gather rich data for training Large Language Models (LLMs). This data is crucial for developing AI with a deeper understanding of local languages and cultural nuances. This aggressive market entry also faces scrutiny from an antitrust perspective, as highlighted by Ramanjit Singh Chima of Access Now, who warns that such 'predatory pricing' can stifle competition and make it difficult for local Indian AI platforms to emerge. The lack of strong indigenous AI alternatives means India could face a prolonged dependency on foreign technology, similar to issues seen with other digital platforms.