India has suddenly become a hotspot for free premium AI subscriptions. From Airtel bundling Perplexity Pro to Jio offering Google AI Pro and OpenAI rolling out low-cost plans at no charge, the generosity looks surprising. But behind this “free” access lies a calculated strategy.

India is the world’s largest consumer of mobile data, with a rapidly growing base of internet users, affordable smartphones, and a young, digitally active population. For AI companies, this creates the perfect ecosystem-not just to build users, but to train smarter AI models. Every interaction helps improve language understanding, regional context, and real-world problem solving.

However, this raises serious concerns around data use and transparency. AI models rely heavily on scraped internet data and user interactions, yet companies remain largely secretive about their datasets. This has already triggered copyright lawsuits from global media houses and content creators.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 offers some safeguards, but it does not directly regulate AI training or algorithmic accountability. As AI firms deepen their presence, the big question remains: are Indian users trading free AI tools for their data without fully realizing the cost?