OpenAI has announced a strategic partnership with Reliance to integrate advanced AI-powered conversational search capabilities into JioHotstar, the Indian conglomerate's prominent streaming service.
This innovative feature, leveraging OpenAI’s robust API, will empower users to effortlessly discover movies, television series, and live sports. It will support text and voice prompts across multiple languages, delivering personalized recommendations tailored to individual preferences and viewing history.
The collaboration underscores OpenAI's expanding presence in India, a critical market boasting over 100 million weekly ChatGPT users. The company further plans to establish new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru later this year, augmenting its existing operations in New Delhi.
The partnership was unveiled at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, an event where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is participating alongside other influential industry figures, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Google's Sundar Pichai.
Beyond the in-app functionality, the companies intend to deepen this integration by surfacing JioHotstar recommendations directly within ChatGPT. This will enable users searching for entertainment through ChatGPT to receive contextually relevant suggestions and direct links to content within the platform’s extensive catalogue, positioning the feature as a comprehensive two-way discovery layer.
This initiative aligns with a broader industry trend where streaming and TV platforms are increasingly exploring conversational interfaces. For instance, Netflix announced in May 2025 its experimentation with a new search experience utilizing OpenAI’s ChatGPT for natural language content discovery, while Google introduced Gemini-powered discovery features for its Google TV platform in November.
Fidji Simo, Chief Executive of Applications at OpenAI, commented that this partnership is designed to deliver more personalized AI experiences in entertainment and live sports, facilitating a seamless transition "from curiosity to context" for viewers through intuitive interactions.
Uday Shankar, Vice Chairperson of JioStar, emphasized that embedding AI into content discovery is poised to significantly reshape how audiences find and engage with programming.
The companies confirmed that the new search functionalities will be rolled out across both live and on-demand content formats.
The JioHotstar partnership is a key component of OpenAI’s overarching "OpenAI for India" strategy, aimed at strengthening its footprint in the South Asian nation through infrastructure, enterprise, and educational collaborations. Other notable initiatives under this program include partnerships with the Tata Group for AI-ready data centers and enterprise deployments, as well as agreements with Indian companies such as Pine Labs, Eternal, and MakeMyTrip.
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