Billionaire Ambani wants AI in every call, app, and home

As India looks for a homegrown competitor in the global artificial intelligence race, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is positioning Reliance Industries as a national champion, rolling out AI services for phone calls, mobile apps and connected homes.

Be with annual shareholders meeting On Friday, Mumbai-based conglomerate Jio announced Call Agent, an AI assistant that can join phone calls to transcribe conversations, generate summaries and perform tasks such as booking cabs, ordering food and making reservations. The service, which can be activated by saying ‘Hey Jio’, is expected to launch later this year for Jio’s more than 500 million users.

By embedding the service directly into its telecom network rather than offering it as a standalone app, Jio is betting that AI support can become a standard feature of phone calls. The approach could reduce consumers’ dependence on third-party call assistant apps and give Reliance a powerful distribution advantage in an increasingly crowded AI market.

Reliance also unveiled an AI-powered version of its MyJio app that can perform tasks on behalf of users, from activating eSIMs to selecting roaming plans, through natural language requests. The company further introduced TeleFrame, a home display that uses AI agents to proactively display information and recommendations such as weather alerts, schedules and household reminders. The product appears to reflect a broader industry push toward ambient AI assistants for the home, an area being explored by companies like Amazon and Google.

The announcements mark the next phase of Reliance’s AI ambitions, as India looks to build domestic capabilities in a field largely dominated by US and Chinese tech companies. This push follows the launch of Reliance Intelligence last year, through which the conglomerate aims to develop AI infrastructure and services for consumers, businesses and governments, including applications that support 22 Indian languages.

“India should not be a mere consumer of AI created elsewhere. It should become a creator, adopter and a global leader in AI,” Ambani, 69, said.

Reliance has ramped up its AI ambitions through partnerships with Google, Meta and Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to invest $110 billion in AI infrastructure as it looks to establish itself as a key player in India’s emerging AI ecosystem.

During the AGM, Reliance also unveiled a range of AI services for healthcare, education, agriculture and small businesses. The products, branded JioHealthIQ, JioLearnIQ, JioKrishiIQ and AI Vyapar, are designed to work in multiple Indian languages ​​and cater to local needs, the company said.

The AGM also brought an important development for investors waiting for Jio’s stock market debut. Ambani said the Jio Platforms board had approved a draft prospectus for an initial public offering that would include a fresh issue of up to 270 million shares, according to a stock exchange filing.

The announcements also raise questions about how Reliance will handle user data as it expands AI services through phone calls, mobile apps and connected homes. While the company said the services would work with user consent, it did not answer questions about whether data generated by the products can be used to train AI models or shared with technology partners.

Reliance’s AI ambitions come as Indian companies remain heavily dependent on foreign AI models and cloud providers. Recent restrictions on access to some of Anthropic’s latest models have underscored that dependency, showing how decisions made abroad can impact startups and companies building AI products in India — the kind of supply chain risk that drives Indian conglomerates to build their own stack rather than rent someone else’s.

Last week, Reliance announced a partnership with Meta to set up an AI data center in the western state of Gujarat, building on Meta’s previous investment in Jio Platforms and a joint venture launched last year to develop AI solutions for enterprise customers in India and overseas markets.

Reliance is not alone in pursuing AI capabilities. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and rival Adani Group have also expanded their AI initiatives and partnerships with global players including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI, as India’s largest companies race to secure a leading role in the country’s AI future.

Nevertheless, the stakes for Reliance are extremely high; it prepares Jio for a much-anticipated stock market debut and needs new growth engines, with the conglomerate’s shares down about 17% this year.