While social media is abuzz with conversations about artificial intelligence, the ground reality in India paints a different picture, one that’s still in its early chapters. A recent joint study by Google and Kantar India reveals that over 60% of Indians remain unfamiliar with AI, and only about 31% have experimented with any generative AI tools. In a nation that thrives on innovation, the data suggests there’s still a vast untapped potential waiting to be unlocked.
This insight comes from an extensive survey involving 8,000 participants across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, aged between 18 and 44. The findings were unveiled during Google’s first-ever Gemini Day in India, a showcase that highlighted the company’s latest AI breakthroughs. The event brought to life several new features of Google’s Gemini ecosystem—including Veo 2 (a powerful text-to-video generator), Gemini Live with Video, Gemini Canvas, Deep Research, and Audio Overviews.
One of the standout moments of the event came from Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind, who offered a deeper look into Gemini’s growing linguistic capabilities. “Gemini Live already supports nine Indian languages,” he said, adding, “Behind the scenes, our teams are working hard to expand this to over 100 Indian languages. Our benchmarks show Gemini leading the pack across 29 Indian tongues, it’s the best in class.”
Gupta also spotlighted the advancements brought by Gemini 2.5, particularly its long context window, an upgrade that allows the model to process everything from lengthy video files to complex codebases and multi-volume novels. “It’s built to retain details in sprawling content, making it a truly sophisticated assistant for real-world complexity,” he noted.
Shekar Khosla, Vice President of Marketing at Google India, reinforced the mission behind Gemini, saying, “Our goal has always been to turn Google’s innovation into a deeply personal and useful AI assistant. We’re thrilled to see it take shape across diverse needs, ages, cities, and languages.”
The study, conducted in two phases, provides further perspective on India’s evolving relationship with AI. Phase one focused on understanding awareness and adoption patterns across 5,133 respondents. Phase two evaluated the tangible impact of Gemini on a separate group of 3,415 individuals. Notably, the study appears to have been conducted just before the full rollout of Gemini 2.5.
And the numbers are telling. A staggering 93% of Gemini users reported improved productivity, while 95% said the AI assistant sparked new levels of creativity. Beyond that, 80% credited Gemini with helping them make better decisions or offering expert-level guidance. Additionally, 69% found it aided in their skill development journey, and 77% said it played a role in unlocking new creative or professional pursuits.
Though the report doesn’t pinpoint how many Gemini users are currently active in India, recent figures suggest the AI chatbot app is witnessing explosive growth globally, with its user base already crossing the 350 million mark.
For India, these findings represent more than just numbers, they mark a turning point. The infrastructure is being built, the tools are becoming more accessible, and now, the awareness and trust must follow. The stage is set. The question is no longer if India will embrace AI, but how quickly.