India is among the markets expected to see strong growth in multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) use, according to new Ericsson ConsumerLab research. Daily use of AI across text, voice, images and video in India is projected to reach 43 percent by 2030, compared with 22 percent today and 30 percent globally. The findings point to a shift from occasional AI interactions towards more frequent use across different devices and locations, creating new demands on mobile networks.
As consumers increasingly use AI while on the move and share more images, video and voice with AI services, network traffic is expected to become more upload-heavy and unevenly distributed. This will increase the importance of network responsiveness and uplink capacity, particularly in locations where network demand is already high.
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Nitin Bansal, Managing Director, Ericsson India, says: “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. India’s strong digital foundation provides an opportunity to support this next phase of AI adoption. High-performing networks will be important to delivering the responsiveness, capacity and reliability that emerging AI experiences will require”, he added.
New AI habits create new network demands
Globally, a group of AI super users offers an early indication of how AI usage could evolve. today, these users represent around 10 percent of all consumers and are expected to account for 30 percent of all consumers by 2030, while generating more than 80 percent of all AI activity. Their behaviour points towards more frequent AI interactions across multiple devices and locations, with greater reliance on mobile connectivity.
For AI super users, response time has 2.5 times the influence on network satisfaction compared with average users, highlighting the importance of the overall experience as AI becomes more embedded in everyday activities. Daily multimodal AI use is projected to grow from 10 percent today to 30 percent globally by 2030. Sharing images, video and voice with AI services will increase upload traffic and create short bursts of demand. By 2030, daily multimodal AI use, multi-device AI use and the number of on-the-go locations where AI is used are all expected to triple.
The research also points to the growth of agentic AI, which can carry out tasks such as making bookings, comparing products or managing schedules on a user’s behalf. Across the markets surveyed, 38 percent of smartphone users expect to use agentic AI by 2030, compared with four percent today. Consumers expect these AI-enabled services to save around one hour of screen time each day.
As agentic AI becomes more prevalent, AI services could generate more background activity across applications and services. For networks, this could increase the importance of predictable performance, low latency and resilient connectivity. Trust will also be important as AI becomes more capable of acting on behalf of users. More than half of daily AI users are strongly concerned about fake or hacked AI assistants. The research finds that communications service providers rank the most trusted among the ecosystem actors for verifying the identities of AI assistants.
