Everyone is going crazy over Perplexity’s ₹17,000 Pro plan for free. It looks like the deal of the year. But here’s the truth: this isn’t charity. It’s a calculated move in the global AI war. Perplexity just offered its premium plan to 360 million Indians. That’s not a gift, it’s a strategy. Access to this user base gives them priceless training data. Data that would cost billions to acquire in Western markets. By partnering with airtel, they skipped years of user acquisition costs in a single stroke. While rivals fight in saturated markets, Perplexity is quietly flanking them. The real play is not free access. It’s leveraging a nation’s data to build a competitive edge in AI. Is this a brilliant growth hack or a massive gamble with user trust? What do you think? #AI #strategy #dataprivacy #India #Perplexity
Chalega I am using it . I love using it. The day they charge will stop . Will utilise it as much as possible until free
If you're not paying for it, you're the product.
Oh wow, so when ChatGPT and Gemini silently learn from our every search, voice command, and interaction, it’s called "AI innovation."
I genuinely hope people don’t get swayed by the “free” aspect of AI tools and understand the importance of not sharing sensitive information that could potentially be used against them. It's high time we educate new users about responsible AI usage. While the convenience and quick responses are valuable, we must also stay mindful of the price we pay in terms of our data.
Yes, when perplexity gave out paid subscriptions for free, everyone found it as an opportunity. Whereas, I overlooked it as a strategy. The way it got spread through word of mouth was really groundbreaking. Small efforts, huge success.
Insightful, thank you Vignesh
The good old saying "If something is free, you are the product" applies here.
So, it's a risky move too. If even 1% of the population actually uses it, that's 3.6 million people i.e, 36 lakh people. You multiply it by 17,000 and it gets enormous. Plus you can not use the data of users (legally) without their permission. People can turn off 'AI Data Retention'. It's something similar to what jio did with data. Create a demand and then charge them.
I don't just get why perplexity is still a wrapper. Why doesn't it pre train its own model. Because this is not sustainable in long run. You are not in the race at all.
An Engineer, A Cloud Alliance Head, AI Enabler, An Electric Vehicle Entrepreneur & a Proud Farmer.
2moThey are useless fellows with no API . Just want to learn for free. They aren't offering anything for free, they are getting everything for free