Anthropic’s push into the Indian market has run into a naming conflict with Anthropic Software, a local firm that has used the name since 2017. The Indian company filed a complaint in a Karnataka commercial court, seeking recognition of its prior use and damages of ₹10 million. The dispute highlights the challenges global AI firms face as they enter fast‑growing markets and underscores the importance of clear branding in India’s burgeoning AI sector. Read more →

India's finance minister unveiled a budget proposal that grants foreign cloud providers a tax exemption on revenues from AI workloads run in Indian data centers and sold abroad through 2047. The plan also includes a cost‑plus safe harbour for Indian data‑center operators, expanded incentives for electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, and support for rare‑earth mineral development. Major global tech firms have already pledged billions to build AI‑focused data‑center campuses in the country, while domestic projects are also scaling up. The initiative aims to position India as a long‑term hub for AI infrastructure despite challenges such as power reliability and water scarcity. Read more →

India's finance minister unveiled a budget proposal that grants foreign cloud providers a tax exemption on revenues from AI workloads run in Indian data centers and sold abroad through 2047. The plan also includes a cost‑plus safe harbour for Indian data‑center operators, expanded incentives for electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, and support for rare‑earth mineral development. Major global tech firms have already pledged billions to build AI‑focused data‑center campuses in the country, while domestic projects are also scaling up. The initiative aims to position India as a long‑term hub for AI infrastructure despite challenges such as power reliability and water scarcity. Read more →

Google is expanding its AI‑driven learning platform Gemini to include full‑length practice exams for India's Joint Entrance Exam (JEE). The new tools provide vetted questions, instant feedback, answer explanations, and personalized study plans. Gemini's capabilities also extend to AI Mode in Search, Canvas for creating study guides, and NotebookLM for quizzes and multimedia summaries, all available in multiple Indian languages. Simultaneously, Google is partnering with Indian government agencies and universities to launch an AI‑enabled state university pilot, backed by an ₹850 million grant from Google.org to integrate AI across educational portals and reduce administrative burdens. The company aims to reach tens of millions of learners and educators by 2027. Read more →

Anthropic has appointed Irina Ghose, a former Microsoft India managing director, to head its India operations as the AI startup prepares to open an office in Bengaluru. The move highlights India's growing importance as a market for generative AI, with Anthropic seeking to deepen enterprise and developer adoption of its Claude model. Ghose brings more than two decades of big‑tech experience and local relationships, positioning Anthropic to compete with rivals such as OpenAI, which is also expanding its presence in the country. The hiring underscores Anthropic's push to translate strong user growth in India into sustainable revenue. Read more →

Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI has restricted access to Grok’s controversial image‑generation feature on X, making it available only to paying subscribers. The move follows a wave of criticism after the tool was used to create sexualized and non‑consensual images of women, children, and public figures. While the restriction applies to the X platform, the standalone Grok app remains free. Governments in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and India have publicly denounced the misuse and urged tighter controls, prompting X to tighten its policies. Read more →

France and Malaysia have joined India in condemning Grok, the chatbot built by Elon Musk’s xAI and hosted on X, after it generated sexualized deepfake images of women and minors. Grok posted an apology for an incident on Dec 28, 2025, acknowledging violations of ethical standards and potential U.S. laws. India’s IT ministry ordered X to restrict such content or lose safe‑harbor protections, while French prosecutors and Malaysia’s communications commission launched investigations into the proliferation of illegal AI‑generated images on the platform. Read more →

India’s IT ministry has directed Elon Musk’s platform X to make immediate technical and procedural changes to its AI chatbot Grok after users and lawmakers reported the generation of obscene content, including AI‑altered images of women. The order gives X 72 hours to submit a report on the steps taken to prevent the hosting or dissemination of material deemed obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under law. Non‑compliance could jeopardize X’s safe‑harbor protections, exposing the platform to legal action under India’s IT and criminal statutes. Read more →

India's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has released a draft framework that would require AI developers, including OpenAI and Google, to pay royalties for using copyrighted material in model training. The proposal creates a single collecting body to distribute payments to creators, aiming to lower compliance costs while ensuring compensation. Industry groups such as Nasscom and the Business Software Alliance have voiced concerns, arguing that a licensing‑only approach could hinder innovation and favour a text‑and‑data‑mining exception. The government has opened a public comment period before finalizing the recommendations. Read more →

Google and venture firm Accel announced a joint effort to invest in India’s earliest‑stage artificial‑intelligence startups through the Google AI Futures Fund and Accel’s Atoms program. The partnership will allocate up to $1 million per startup, provide compute credits, early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, and mentorship from both firms. Targeted founders include those building AI products for the Indian market and for global audiences. The collaboration aims to tap India’s large, mobile‑first population, engineering talent, and growing cloud infrastructure to accelerate AI innovation. Read more →

Google is rolling out on‑device AI scam detection for Pixel 9 smartphones in India, using Gemini Nano to analyze calls without sending data to its servers. The feature, which is off by default and limited to English‑speaking users, flags potential fraud from unknown numbers with an audible beep. Google also launched a pilot that alerts users of screen‑sharing scams in partnership with Navi, Paytm and Google Pay, offering a one‑tap option to end the call. Play Protect continues to block predatory loan apps, and the company’s DigiKavach campaign has reached hundreds of millions, though gaps remain due to limited device share and language coverage. Read more →

Indian IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has secured a $1 billion investment from private‑equity firm TPG as part of a multi‑year, $2 billion plan to build a network of gigawatt‑scale AI data centers across India. Dubbed “HyperVault,” the project will use liquid‑cooled, high‑density designs to meet the soaring demand for AI compute power. The initiative arrives amid a stark supply‑demand gap in the country, where data generation is high but data‑center capacity remains low. TCS aims to partner with hyperscalers and AI firms to develop the infrastructure needed for advanced AI workloads. Read more →

Google Photos has rolled out six new AI-driven tools aimed at simplifying editing and searching within users' photo libraries. The "Help me edit" feature now offers personalized portrait adjustments, using facial data to remove sunglasses or fix closed eyes, and is expanding to iOS in the United States. The Nano Banana editor powers a new "Create with AI" section that supplies customizable templates for artistic restyling, initially reaching Android users in the United States and India. The Ask Photos search tool is expanding to over 100 additional markets and 17 new languages, while a new Ask button lets users ask detailed questions about individual images, currently available in the United States on both Android and iOS. Read more →

Google is rolling out its Gemini AI assistant within Google Maps for Android and iOS users in India, adding contextual navigation help, multilingual support, and new safety features such as accident‑prone stretch alerts. The update, built on extensive localization, also brings real‑time road‑closure data from the National Highways Authority of India and speed‑limit displays in several major cities. Read more →

OpenAI has launched a promotion that makes its ChatGPT Go subscription free for a full year for users in India. The offer applies to both new and existing subscribers and can be redeemed through the ChatGPT website or the Google Play store, with an Apple App Store rollout expected soon. ChatGPT Go provides a selection of premium features—including extended access to GPT‑5, image generation, file uploads, advanced data analysis, longer memory, and custom GPT tools—at a lower price point than ChatGPT Plus. The move highlights India as a key test market for OpenAI’s pricing experiments and positions the company against local and international AI competitors. Read more →

Google has partnered with Reliance Intelligence to provide its Gemini 2.5 Pro model at no cost to users of Jio, India’s largest mobile carrier. Eligible Jio customers on the Unlimited 5G plan will receive Google AI Pro for 18 months, unlocking higher limits for Nano Banana and Veo 3.1 image and video generators, expanded NotebookLM access, and 2 TB of cloud storage across Google apps. The promotion initially targets Jio users aged 18 to 25 before expanding to all qualifying plans via the MyJio app, underscoring Google’s aggressive AI expansion strategy in the Indian market. Read more →

OpenAI announced a promotion that provides free access to its ChatGPT Go plan for a full year to users in India who sign up during a limited period. The offer applies to both new and existing subscribers, allowing them to enjoy the plan’s enhanced features such as higher usage limits, image generation, and improved memory without paying the regular monthly fee. The company highlighted the strong adoption of its services in India and aims to deepen engagement in one of its largest markets. Read more →

Google’s Nano Banana image‑generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has become the top driver of the Gemini app’s popularity in India. Indian users are employing the AI to create retro Bollywood looks, AI‑saree portraits, city‑scape selfies, miniature figurines and short videos from old family photos. The surge has propelled the Gemini app to the top of both the iOS App Store and Google Play charts in the country, with monthly downloads far outpacing those in the United States. While the model’s adoption is boosting downloads, in‑app spending remains modest, and Google is rolling out watermarks and a hidden SynthID marker to address privacy and misuse concerns. Read more →

Google’s Nano Banana image‑generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has become the top driver of the Gemini app’s popularity in India. Indian users are employing the AI to create retro Bollywood looks, AI‑saree portraits, city‑scape selfies, miniature figurines and short videos from old family photos. The surge has propelled the Gemini app to the top of both the iOS App Store and Google Play charts in the country, with monthly downloads far outpacing those in the United States. While the model’s adoption is boosting downloads, in‑app spending remains modest, and Google is rolling out watermarks and a hidden SynthID marker to address privacy and misuse concerns. Read more →

Google’s Nano Banana image‑generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has become the top driver of the Gemini app’s popularity in India. Indian users are employing the AI to create retro Bollywood looks, AI‑saree portraits, city‑scape selfies, miniature figurines and short videos from old family photos. The surge has propelled the Gemini app to the top of both the iOS App Store and Google Play charts in the country, with monthly downloads far outpacing those in the United States. While the model’s adoption is boosting downloads, in‑app spending remains modest, and Google is rolling out watermarks and a hidden SynthID marker to address privacy and misuse concerns. Read more →