Google has come up with very competitive AI models in the recent past, and it now seems to be betting big on its users in India.
Google has announced it is giving free access to Indian students to Gemini Pro for a year. This Gemini Pro plan is worth Rs. 19,500 per year otherwise. “If you’re a student in India — you’ve just been granted access to a FREE Gemini upgrade worth Rs. 19,500 for one year,” Google India posted on X. “Claim and get free access to Veo3, Gemini in Google apps, and 2 TB storage,” it added.
Students will need to access the link goo.gle.com/freePro to get their free subscription. Students need a college email id to be able to register. They must claim the offer before 15th September. Google initially charges Rs. 2 to verify the payment credentials, and then sets up a UPI autopay valid for a year. Students will need to cancel the autopay if they want to not renew the subscription once the year has elapsed.
The Gemini Pro subscription gives access to higher rate limits on Google’s Gemini model, and also access to its popular Veo3 model, which generates lifelike videos. With the subscription, users will be able to use Gemini within Google’s apps.
It’s a smart strategy by Google to build up a userbase in India. At the moment, Google has one of the best AI models in the world, but ChatGPT has more brand recognition. If Google can put its top models into the hands of students for free, it immediately gets access to a massive userbase. Also, if students like using Gemini, they can turn into regular users, and use the platform for decades to come. In addition, many of these students will likely turn into developers and corporate professionals, and will continue using these models in their work.
Google isn’t the only company that’s tried putting AI into the hands of students for free. Perplexity has a similar program in the US, where students can get access to top models for free. But Google now feels sufficiently confident about its top models to offer them to be a big market like India, which could see a huge influx of users. Google might’ve been slow off the blocks in the AI race, but it seems to be very much prepared to make a comeback.