India Set to Lead Multimodal AI Adoption, Daily Usage to Nearly Double by 2030

India is expected to emerge as a major driver of multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, with daily usage projected to rise from the current 22 per cent to 43 per cent by 2030, according to a new report by Ericsson ConsumerLab.

The projected increase of around 95.5 per cent would put India well ahead of the anticipated global average of 30 per cent, reflecting the growing integration of AI into everyday activities involving text, voice, images and video.

The report points to a shift from occasional interactions with AI tools towards more frequent and widespread use across smartphones and other connected devices. This transition is also expected to increase pressure on mobile networks as consumers increasingly rely on AI services while travelling, working and communicating.

As AI applications become more multimodal, users are likely to upload more images, videos and voice recordings for processing. This could make network traffic increasingly upload-heavy, while demand may fluctuate more sharply depending on users' locations and activities.

"AI is becoming an integral part of how consumers search, create and communicate today. As AI becomes more multimodal and mobile, consumers will expect these experiences to work reliably across devices and wherever they are," said Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India.

He added that India's strong digital foundation presents an opportunity to support the next phase of AI adoption, but delivering responsive and reliable experiences will require mobile networks capable of handling growing capacity demands.

Globally, the share of highly active AI users, described in the report as "AI super users", is expected to rise from around 10 per cent of consumers currently to 30 per cent by 2030. Despite representing less than a third of consumers, this group is projected to generate more than 80 per cent of all AI activity.

Network performance will be particularly important for these users. According to the report, response time has 2.5 times more influence on network satisfaction among AI super users than among average users, underlining the importance of low latency as AI services become more interactive.

The research also highlights growing interest in agentic AI, which refers to systems capable of carrying out tasks and taking actions on a user's behalf rather than simply responding to individual prompts.

Around 38 per cent of smartphone users expect to use agentic AI by 2030, compared with just 4 per cent currently. Consumers also expect these services to save them approximately one hour of screen time each day by automating routine activities.

However, wider adoption will depend on trust as well as convenience. More than half of daily AI users expressed strong concerns about fake or hacked AI assistants, highlighting the need for stronger safeguards and reliable systems as such tools become more deeply embedded in everyday life.

The findings suggest that India's next phase of AI growth will depend not only on the availability of advanced applications but also on dependable connectivity, faster network responses and greater confidence in the security of AI-powered services.