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India’s AI journey is heavily dependent on models built by US-based giants like OpenAI and Google but this company wants to change that
Puch AI wants to reach billions of Indians with AI tools. (Photo: AI generated)
This Indian company wants to take on ChatGPT and Grok AI but with the help of India’s most expensive mobile number that works on WhatsApp. The country is mostly relying on AI models built outside of India, which means the responses from AI chatbots will be tailored to the local processing. But Puch AI wants to give India its own sovereign AI that speaks in its language and also gives responses contextually relevant for the region.
And this company is doing this with the help of a mobile number 9090909090 which is the most-expensive mobile number one can buy in India. Siddharth Bhatia, Co-founder of Puch AI has raised a pitch that first engages the people and hopefully works its magic with investors.
AI Using WhatsApp In India: But Why?
Bhatia claims Puch AI will be India’s first true gateway to AI for billions of people. He further relates the AI revolution to the democratisation of internet over data, UPI for digital payments and Q-commerce for new shopping trends.
His post on X here, defines the need to connect with billions and get them introduced to AI for which WhatsApp becomes the ideal medium. They even have AI available via voice calls and all this will be free but at what cost?
Why did we buy India’s most expensive number?Because India deserves its own AI.Sovereign AI is a bigger priority than even nuclear energy in ways we can’t yet imagine. China is already releasing powerful open-source models, but every single one of them calls Arunachal Pradesh… pic.twitter.com/qqZ2pNZeZs
— Siddharth Bhatia (@siddharthb_) September 2, 2025
Compete With OpenAI And Meta In A New Way
He says Puch AI is used by nearly a million people in India, which is barely scratching the surface of the potential user base out there. And the other intriguing insight is that 60 percent of these users are using AI for the first time and that too in their languages.
WhatsApp has made all this possible for years, and using the platform to further integrate AI into people’s lives seems like a smart move. After all, Meta has its own AI chatbot number that lets you interact with ChatGPT and other models.
But unlike ChatGPT, Puch AI is heavily modeled around voice features, for creating stickers like Studio Ghibli and more. So, yes Bhatia wants to compete with the AI giants from Silicon Valley, but he intends to use them as well, for distributing and expanding the reach of their own India-based AI model.
This is where the most expansive mobile number in India could fetch Puch AI the user base that directly appeals to the investors, and this post does its best to make that first impression on the prospective brands.
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- Location :
Delhi, India, India
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