Brazil's Vivo partners with Google to offer free Gemini AI

Brazil's largest telecom company is giving millions of customers free access to Google's most powerful artificial intelligence, a rare partnership that signals how aggressively tech giants are racing to embed AI into everyday services in emerging markets where internet access remains a critical business battleground. The deal marks a significant shift in how AI companies monetize their products, trading direct consumer revenue for deeper integration into the infrastructure that billions rely on daily. As Google and its competitors fight for dominance in regions where smartphone penetration often outpaces traditional banking and computing, the partnership could reshape how developing nations experience artificial intelligence — and who ultimately controls the gatekeepers.

Telecompaper·Jul 9