Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India

An AI company partnered with a major Indian telecom operator to offer its premium subscription service free for a year to hundreds of millions of customers, creating one of the largest growth experiments in AI adoption. Downloads surged more than nine times during the promotional period, but fell sharply after new redemptions ended, though monthly active users remained significantly higher than before the offer. Revenue from in-app purchases and subscriptions actually increased after the free period ended, suggesting some users may convert to paid subscriptions after experiencing the premium service. This experiment serves as an early test of whether giving away premium AI services can create lasting paying customers, with other major AI companies subsequently launching similar strategies in the same market.