“India’s AI Moment”, Open Magzine, October 24, 2025
“AT A TIME WHEN many city dwellers in India, especially those in New Delhi, are reeling under dangerously poor air quality, what could be more heartening than coming across an academic paper in the journal Scientific Reports exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can be employed to combat air pollution. The study by KS Rautela and MK Goyal concludes that precise forecasting of the air quality index can help devise region-specific measures to reduce air pollution and save lives by sparing people the grim prospect of breathing air equivalent to smoking several cigarettes, a condition linked to reduced life expectancy and various cancers, particularly of the lungs.
But let us first look at where India stands in terms of AI adoption, or to paraphrase it, where does the India AI story go from here? Is the trajectory of growth towards achieving AI independence? What to make of IT behemoths such as OpenAI, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and so on investing more in India, tying up with local institutions and aligning with the government’s IndiaAI Mission to develop national AI capabilities?
Just a recap: AI company Perplexity’s AI browser Comet is available in India to Perplexity Pro plan subscribers. It had partnered earlier this year with telecom operator Bharti Airtel to offer a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription (a premium AI-powered chatbot that otherwise costs around ` 17,000) to all 360 million Airtel subscribers. For its part, OpenAI, the tech giant backed by Microsoft, which is also busy hiring local talent, has launched a ₹399 monthly plan to make ChatGPT more affordable for locals. Anthropic, the maker of the ‘Claude’ AI chatbot, is also opening its first India office in Bengaluru in early 2026. Google has committed an investment of $10 billion in India over the next five-seven years with a focus on digitalising the economy and building India-first products. The bottomline is this: several top-notch AI players are looking to tap the Indian market for local talent and to set up data centres as part of their growth strategy……”
Read full article at openthemagazine.com
