Google's Year in Search report has confirmed that artificial intelligence is dominating the Indian digital conversations in 2025, which is a major cultural shift witnessed in the year. As per the recent data, Google's own Gemini has topped the most searched AI tool in the country. With this, it is confirmed that the AI tool has outpaced the speeding ChatGPT AI chatbot. Users of all age brackets – from schoolgoers to professionals and content creators in India – are now witnessing AI as a daily digital companion rather than just a luxury.
Gemini leads India's AI surge.
The report further mentions that, after the IPL, Gemini was the second-biggest overall trending search in India this year. The rise of the chatbot is a reasonable reflection of how AI has penetrated day-to-day life.
Gemini has impressed the masses with its versatility and ease of use- from essay creation to creating 3D visuals. The platform is used mainly for experimenting with various AI-generated images and edits. The new Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model created some major trends in the digital world that year.
Most popular among Gemini’s leading search is the ‘Nano Banana’ trend, from figurines, stylised caricatures, and hyper-real portraits that caught the attention of people around the world. The Gemini Image Prompts were hit, and dominated social media feeds and further embedded AI into India's online culture.
Grok and Perplexity steal the spotlight after Gemini.
Another interesting notion was that Google was not the only winner. Elon Musk's Grok, which was integrated into the X platform, became an instant hit for its smart replies. Many users in India liked Grok (which has the wit of Musk) and communicated with humour, delivered real-time context and meme interactions.
On the other hand, Perplexity turned out to be a darling for those seeking alternatives to Google Search. The neat, research-focused answers helped it trend among students, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
Taken together, Grok and Perplexity were more often curious and buzzy than ChatGPT—a fact that, until a year ago, would have been unimaginable.
ChatGPT is still popular, but no longer the trend leader
While OpenAI's ChatGPT remains widely used, its positioning has shifted from headline hero to stable, everyday tool. Google's A-to-Z search insights also showed that Indians increasingly explored newer models promising speed, creativity, image generation, and integrated workflows.
AI evolution in India has just begun.
With college students writing essays with Gemini, entrepreneurs using Perplexity to summarise strategies, and influencers leveraging Grok's tone for their content, AI has become part of the Indian cultural and digital fabric.
As per Google's Year in Search, 2025 was not only the year of AI trends but the year Indians embraced artificial intelligence as lifestyle technology – one query at a time.