AI Branding and Monetization Potential : Airtel’s AI Move with Perplexity
By Ptrikha_2
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
India
July 19, 2025 9:02am CST
Airtel is teaming up with a promising AI company called Perplexity AI — and it actually sounds kind of exciting, even if you’re not super into tech.
Basically, Perplexity is like this smart AI tool that answers questions and gives info, kinda like Google but more conversational.
Now, Airtel is giving a whole year of Perplexity Pro for free to all their customers — prepaid, postpaid, broadband... everyone! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed Airtel has been trying to be more “digital-first” lately, and this feels like a solid step in that direction.
Plus, it’s nice to see an Indian company doing something with AI, especially when all we hear about is ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
From what I read, analysts think it’s a smart move because Airtel gets to look like a tech-savvy brand and maybe even make money from it later.
If people get hooked on Perplexity, they might pay for premium stuff down the line(even a 2 to 3 % would do! ).
Also, it helps Airtel stand out from Jio, which is also going big on AI.
News Link =>
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/perplexity-deal-gives-airtel-dual-win-ai-branding-and-monetization-potential-say-analysts-13293277.html
3 people like this
3 responses
@arunima25 (92310)
• Bangalore, India
24 Jul
Everything is getting into AI. Though I am not a big supporter of AI used in every place but then that's the trend. One can do nothing about it but just get updated to stay relevant. I have a very strong feeling and concern that AI invading every space of human life is going to create a world with less human interactions and more loneliness.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
26 Jul
@arunima25
You are right. A research has shown that more rampant usage of AI led some individuals to have a downgraded social life and that made a mental impact as well.
So a balance is required but the way trends go, there is an initial stage of too much euphoria and imbalance.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
2 Aug
@arunima25
Yet the impact is getting felt. Recently, TCS fired 12K employees on the pretext of "efficiency" and "restructuring".
However, AI does seems to cast its shadow over the move.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (159659)
• United States
19 Jul
Have you looked into seeing if Perplexity also has "hallucinations" like ChatGPT, Gemini, OpenAI and Grok? ("Hallucinations" is what AI companies are calling it when their AIs tell lies and make up "facts" and pass them on to people as if they're the truth.) I'd be more worried about which team members you work with will be using AI, with all the false information, to "help" them do their work instead of doing it themselves and how much will their work affect your own work?
Just a thought...
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
20 Jul
@DaddyEvil
I have not come across "hallucinations".
Yet based on some of the things I have been learning w.r.t AI, I tried "creating" a utility.
What surprised me that where I expected comparison of Multiple brands, the output came out of a single one.
So it became clear to me that i would have to provide a much more detailed input with some very fine details.
After all, as of now, AI is not a super human being but a Program.
Yet some of the newer AI experiments might eventually bring out something like a Super Human or Terminator style Robot.
Blind copy paste from AI generated work can be fatal and can cause issues.
How many people in the world would be careful in using AI generated outputs is a genuine question.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
20 Jul
@DaddyEvil
People in my team are not yet much into using AI.
Plus we have a very legacy Product to manage where AI use has limitations.
Still we ask folks to just use AI as an additional help.
Blind copy paste usage of AI seems to be more rampant in Schools and Colleges, although I have just heard and not seen in reality.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
20 Jul
@JudyEv
Yes they are growing and there is a tough competition in the AI arena.
Personally, I am in IT field and I was a bit wary of all the AI hype till early last year.
Yet now I understand that it is taking over big time, so I too am learning new things.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (48383)
• India
20 Jul
@JudyEv
Yet it is still an emerging field. At times, a lot gets drowned in the noise and it takes time to make out things.
1 person likes this
