iWorld
The biggest buzz on Facebook in 2020
KOLKATA: This year brought a wave of surprises which united people across countries and made them realise the power of doing ‘More Together’ while practicing social distancing. As we prepare ourselves to embrace what the coming year has in store for us, Facebook has given glimpses of some of the moments that united people across its family of apps.
For instance, people came to Facebook to commemorate the figures who left a lasting legacy around the world. Kobe Bryant’s passing was this year's most discussed moment on Facebook, with the US, Mexico and Philippines sharing the most posts and photos celebrating his life. US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was commemorated in more than six million posts in one day across Facebook and Instagram, with many using the hashtag #restinpower. The passing of prominent personalities including Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput, S P Balasubrahmanyam, and Pranab Mukherjee echoed deeply in the conversations in India.
The incident which reshaped the year, Covid2019, was also discussed highly. Throughout March, more than 1.5 million Spaniards posted to express their gratitude for medical staff using #aplausosanitario. Instagram and Facebook Live views doubled in Italy when lockdowns hit, as residents sang on balconies and broadcasted under quarantine. Meanwhile, in the US, Facebook Live viewership jumped 50 per cent, with many tuning into fitness classes, connecting with artists and more. Live broadcasts in India tripled in June 2020 compared to the same time last year. With the launch of the fundraiser feature in India, ‘I for India’ fundraiser concert witnessed over 85 artists raise funds for people affected by the pandemic.
Facebook’s global community elevated important issues that mattered to them more than ever. In the three weeks following George Floyd's death, conversations around Black Lives Matter tripled, with an average of 7.5 million mentions on the platform every day. With 1.8 million members, The Blackout Coalition — a FB group supporting Black businesses, is the No.1 largest group among US users.
People used Facebook platforms to build and maintain community, even at a distance. Communities rallied to shop local, as more than 47 million stories using the ‘Support Small Business’ sticker were created on Instagram globally in the past three months. With in-person services on hold due to Covid2019lockdowns, the holiday week of April 6 (Easter and Passover) was the biggest for group video calls on Messenger and the most popular week of Facebook Live broadcasts from spiritual pages, ever.
With Diwali being a big cultural moment in India and social interactions taking a virtual route, more than four million people across the country made over 7.5 million posts and comments about Diwali on Facebook from 20 October till 10 November. Uniting the whole nation as well as cricket enthusiasts from across the globe, Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 was a big conversation driver, registering as many as 10 million mentions on Facebook led by fervent fans around the world.
With stakes high, people came to the platforms to make their voices heard. Kamala Harris’ vice presidential selection announcement was the most mentioned moment in August, drawing more than 10 million posts in one day. Further to that, her Indian lineage acted as a catalyst for conversations in India around her appointment. Nearly all adults on Facebook and Instagram in the US saw access to our Voting Information Center, which offered authoritative information on how to register to vote, and well as key facts about voting deadlines.
More than 1.3 million people globally contributed to the years’ largest Facebook fundraiser, its largest ever, raising more than $35 million to provide relief for those affected by the Australian wildfires. To date, more than 2.6 million people have raised more than $87 million through Facebook Fundraisers this year to combat climate change, promote ocean clean up, animal protection efforts, and much more. In India, communities witnessed fundraiser concerts including ‘#BeForBENGAL’, held on World Music Day to raise funds for the victims of Amphan, along with many others.
eNews
India uses ChatGPT for technical tasks nearly 4 times the world average: OpenAI
From classrooms to code, India’s AI use is increasingly skill-driven and youth-led.
MUMBAI: If code is the new currency, India is already minting it by the million prompts. In the world’s largest democracy, artificial intelligence is no longer a distant abstraction or a boardroom buzzword. It is a daily companion, drafting emails in Hyderabad, debugging code in Bengaluru, polishing essays in Delhi, and fielding life advice in towns far beyond the metros. Fresh data from OpenAI’s “Signals” initiative offers a rare, granular glimpse into how India is using ChatGPT, and the numbers suggest the country is not just adopting AI; it is actively shaping its use.
India is one of the largest markets globally for ChatGPT’s weekly active users and ranks among the top five countries for API usage. With OpenAI’s global consumer base exceeding 800 million users, most of them on free tiers, the dataset captures adoption patterns that go far beyond enterprise subscriptions.
Indian users, notably, are punching above their weight when it comes to advanced capabilities. Among ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, usage of the data analysis tool is roughly four times above the global median. Use of Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, is about three times above the median. Indians are nearly three times more likely than the global median to ask coding-related questions and almost twice as likely to seek help on education and learning.
This matters because it signals something economists call a shrinking “capability overhang”, which is the gap between what AI tools can do and how fully users exploit them. In India, that gap appears to be narrowing rapidly.
The geography of this coding intensity tracks the country’s technology hubs. Telangana, which is home to Hyderabad, ranks first in usage of OpenAI’s coding capabilities. Karnataka, home to Bengaluru, follows in second place, while Tamil Nadu comes third. In other words, the prompt traffic mirrors the tech corridors.
Nearly two-thirds of consumer ChatGPT messages in India are now non-work related, while slightly over one-third are tied to work. That marks a significant shift. In earlier phases of adoption, work was the dominant use case. It was only in early 2025 that non-work messages overtook professional use, and the divergence widened throughout the year.
Even so, India remains slightly above the global average in work-related usage. Around 35 per cent of consumer messages in India relate to work, compared with roughly 30 per cent globally.
At work, the emphasis is squarely task-oriented. Around 45 per cent of work-related conversations fall into “doing” behaviours such as drafting documents, transforming text, and completing tasks, compared with a much smaller share in non-work contexts. Technical help and writing dominate. In offices across the country, ChatGPT functions as a digital co-pilot that debugs code, polishes presentations, and unblocks stalled workflows.
Outside work, the tone shifts. Over 35 per cent of non-work messages revolve around practical guidance, which includes everyday advice and how-to queries. Roughly 20 per cent relate to seeking information. Nearly one-fifth involve writing tasks such as drafting or editing. Self-expression and learning loom large. In personal life, Indians appear to use AI less as an executor and more as an explainer, sounding board, and study partner.
India’s demographic dividend is clearly reflected in its AI habits.
Users aged 18 to 24 now account for just under half of all ChatGPT messages sent in the country. They surpassed the 25 to 34 age group in mid-2024 and have held the lead ever since. Globally, the 18 to 24 cohort accounts for about one-third of messages; in India, the share is markedly higher.
Combined, users aged 18 to 34 generate roughly 80 per cent of total consumer ChatGPT messages in India. Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is under 25, the youth skew is unsurprising, but its implications are profound. Education-related queries, early-career problem-solving, and skills development are likely to dominate near-term AI impacts.
Usage patterns also differ by age. The 18 to 24 cohort accounts for a near majority of messages seeking practical guidance, technical help, and self-expression. Meanwhile, the 24 to 34 group sends a slightly higher share of multimedia and technical help queries relative to its overall share of usage.
If AI norms are being written in real time, it is young Indians who are holding the pen.
OpenAI does not collect gender data, but inferred patterns based on typically masculine and feminine first names reveal a measurable gap in India. A little under 60 per cent of users have typically masculine names, and just over 40 per cent have typically feminine names. This skew is more pronounced than the global average.
Worldwide, users with typically feminine names now account for slightly more than half of all messages. This shift occurred only in the summer of 2025, when feminine-name usage overtook masculine-name usage globally. In India, the gap persists, although it has been narrowing over the past year.
There are also topical differences. Users with typically feminine names are more likely to send messages related to self-expression, practical guidance, and writing. Those with typically masculine names lean more towards seeking information and technical help.
The data does not capture motivations, but it does highlight where inclusion efforts and digital literacy initiatives could focus if AI is to broaden opportunity rather than deepen divides.
The consumer story aligns with India’s broader AI momentum. The country ranks second globally in AI skills penetration and has one of the fastest-growing AI talent pools. It accounts for 9.2 per cent of global AI publications in computer science as of 2023, which represents a substantial contribution to research output.
At the same time, investment in AI data centres and digital public infrastructure is expanding, promising to knit together datasets and resources at scale. Enterprise adoption is also robust, which suggests that consumer experimentation is unfolding alongside institutional integration.
OpenAI’s “Signals” project is built with aggregated, privacy-preserving data and released with a time lag. It aims to provide a durable measurement layer for the AI era. The idea is not to track individuals, but to surface patterns such as where adoption is accelerating, who is using the tools, and what they are actually doing.
In a country as vast and varied as India, such evidence is more than academic. It shapes decisions about workforce training, small business support, education policy, and safeguards.
For now, the numbers paint a picture of a nation that is not merely consuming AI, but conversing with it in an energetic, experimental, and increasingly skilful manner. In India, the future of work and learning is not being downloaded. It is being drafted, debugged, and rewritten in real time.
