India AI Year in Search 2025 — How Indians Compared Gemini, Grok, Perplexity & Other AI Tools
Google’s Year in Search 2025 shows AI becoming an everyday companion in India. Gemini topped AI tool searches, while Grok, Perplexity and image tools found strong, specialised followings.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Google Gemini logo)
The big picture — AI moved into everyday life
Google’s Year in Search 2025 paints a clear picture: in India, artificial intelligence stopped being niche and became part of daily routines. Searches showed people asking AI to help with study notes, drafting messages, editing photos, testing business ideas and creating social content. The report even called 2025 “the year AI became an everyday companion.”
At the top of the trends: Gemini. The system ranked as the second most searched overall trend in India, behind only the Indian Premier League — a sign of how mainstream AI interest has become.
Why Gemini dominated searches
Gemini’s prominence reflects both product reach and cultural momentum. Integrated across Google Search, the Gemini app, and image/creative workflows, Gemini offered users a one-stop experience for text and image tasks. Many Indians used it for quick writing help, summaries, and design experiments.
The Nano Banana phenomenon — a nickname for Gemini’s Flash Image model (2.5) — became a viral creative fad. From saree-transformation edits to 3D avatars, Nano Banana-powered prompts like “Gemini saree trend prompt” fuelled social trends and kept Gemini in conversation across platforms.
Other AI tools that trended in India
The Year in Search data shows Indians explored a variety of AI tools rather than sticking with one. Notable names included:
- Grok — Elon Musk’s conversational model on X, popular for its sharper, sometimes sarcastic tone used by creators and social users.
- Perplexity — Favoured by students and researchers for quick summaries and structured, search-like answers.
- DeepSeek — An image- and prompt-focused tool that attracted users experimenting with image generation.
- Google AI Studio and other Google services — used by developers and power users for custom workflows.
Each tool carved a niche: Grok for edgy conversational flair, Perplexity for research-oriented queries, and DeepSeek for image creativity.
How Indians used these tools — common patterns
The report highlights several clear use patterns from India:
- Students & learning: Drafting essays, summarising chapters, and solving homework problems with AI assistance.
- Creators & influencers: Using image models and quirky conversation styles (e.g., Grok) to create shareable content.
- Entrepreneurs & professionals: Rapid prototyping of ideas, generating reports, and drafting business copy.
- Everyday tasks: Quick message drafts, photo edits, and social captions — showing AI as a productivity companion.
These patterns show a broad comfort with trying different apps depending on the task — Indians frequently compared tools and used whichever suited their immediate need.
What the Nano Banana trend taught us
Nano Banana illustrates how a single feature can drive mass engagement. The Flash Image model’s accessibility made it easy for users to produce high-visibility edits (for example, saree transforms) that spread quickly on social platforms. These viral experiments not only boosted Gemini’s search ranking but also familiarised more users with image-prompting workflows.
For brands and creators, the lesson is clear: when AI tools enable simple, culturally relevant creativity, adoption follows fast.
Implications for product makers and policy
Several takeaways emerge for developers, businesses and regulators:
- Product teams: Build for local contexts — language, cultural formats, and easy-to-use templates accelerate adoption.
- Businesses: Integrate multiple AI tools where each adds value (research, content, image generation) instead of relying on a single assistant.
- Policymakers: Monitor impacts on education, copyright and misinformation while enabling responsible innovation.
Final thoughts
India’s Year in Search 2025 shows a country rapidly adapting to new AI tools — experimenting, comparing, and using whichever tool fits the job. Gemini’s top position confirms Google’s reach and the cultural power of viral creative features like Nano Banana. But the broader story is one of an ecosystem: Grok, Perplexity, DeepSeek and others each filled important roles.
As AI becomes more embedded in everyday tasks, expect Indian users to keep exploring — and to judge tools by usefulness, cultural relevance and ease of sharing.