So, the tech overlords are at it again, dangling "free" AI in front of 900 million Indian internet users. Millions get a year of free ChatGPT "Go", Google's buddying up with Reliance Jio, Perplexity's cozying up with Airtel... Give me a break. It's not generosity; it's digital colonialism, plain and simple.
Tarun Pathak at Counterpoint Research says it best: "The plan is to get Indians hooked on to generative AI before asking them to pay for it." Translation: get 'em addicted to the shiny new toy, then slap a subscription fee on it later. It's the oldest trick in the book, isn't it? Like giving out free cigarettes to kids. Except, instead of lung cancer, we're talking about data harvesting and who knows what else.
India's the perfect target, offcourse. Massive user base, cheap data, and a young population practically glued to their phones. It's a data goldmine for these companies. They get to train their AI models on a diverse population, learning all sorts of new tricks. "The AI use cases emerging from here will serve as valuable case studies for the rest of the world," Pathak says. Or, you know, they could just exploit the data for profit. I'm sure that's part of the plan, too.
And what about privacy? Oh, right, nobody cares about that anymore. "Most users have always been willing to give up data for convenience or something free and that will continue," says Prasanto K Roy. He's probably right, sadly. We're all so eager for the next shiny thing that we'll happily hand over our personal information without a second thought. ChatGPT, Gemini: Why OpenAI, Google and Perplexity are offering free AI in India?
But hey, at least the government might step in and regulate things... eventually. Maybe. Don't hold your breath.
I mean, let's be real, what are the odds that the Indian government is going to effectively regulate these tech giants? They can barely fix a pothole, let alone navigate the complexities of AI data privacy. And even if they do try, these companies have armies of lawyers and lobbyists ready to fight them every step of the way.
This whole thing feels like a massive, unregulated experiment on a population that doesn't fully understand the implications. We're talking about AI tools that can generate text, images, and even video, all based on the data these companies are collecting. What could possibly go wrong?
And what about the long-term effects on the Indian economy? Will these free AI tools help local businesses, or will they just further entrench the dominance of these tech giants? Will these free AI tools help local businesses, or will they just further entrench the dominance of these tech giants? It's a question nobody seems to be asking.
Look, I'm not saying AI is inherently evil. But this whole "free AI" push in India stinks of exploitation and short-sightedness. It's a land grab for data, disguised as generosity. And we're all going to pay the price for it in the end, one way or another.
