On the ocassion of Safer Internet Day 2025, Microsoft has released the ninth edition of its Global Online Safety Survey, where it emphasises on AI adoption and the global online safety trends, including India. According to the report, 65% of the respondents in India use generative AI, which is more than double the average of global use at 31%.

Microsoft conducted the survey between July and August 2024, where it gathered detailed insights from 14,800 participants across 15 countries. The participants belonged to different age groups, including teens, adults, parents. AI adoption in India is primarily centered around translation services, answering questions, enhancing the workplace effeciency and helping out the students with their schoolwork.

There is a significant rise in use of AI among Indian users of different age groups. The Indian millenials, who belong to the age group of 25-44 years are currently leading the trend with a notable AI usage of 84%, which is an increase by 15%. This also marks the growth in weekly generative usage of AI in India from 20% to 71%.

Even though adoption of AI is growing, the safety concerns still persist. The survey further identifies the top risks associated to it, which includes Online abuse (76%), Deepfakes (74%), Scams (73%) and AI hallucinations (70%). Over 80% respondents of the survey expressed their concerns about the use of AI by individuals under the age of 18.

A positive from the survey is the increase in parental awareness regarding online safety. The statistics includes 78% of respondent parents who believe that their teenager children have faced online risks, and a 61% of the parents feel well-prepared to discuss these challenges. The 61% of the Indian parents is significantly higher to the global figure of 41%. The teenagers who admitted to encountering online risks were 82%. In response to which, a teenager reportedly seeks out to a trusted individual. 85% of them talk to someone about online issues, 84% take some primary measures like blocking accounts or unfollowing them, and 65% of them report problematic content.

Microsoft’s take on online safety

In order to address and combat AI related risks and ensure online safety, Microsoft has outlined a suix pillar strategy. It includes robust safety measures, digital watermarking for media provenance and collaboration with governments and industry stakeholders. It also launched the Microsoft family safety toolkit that will help families to participate in online safety discussions, at the same time leverage digital parenting tools.

Apart from this, something worth mentioning here is that India’s internet users are estimated to exceed 900 million in 2025. As AI is growing and spreading its wings, the report highlights upon the fact that everything comes with ease and opportunities, at the same time pose challenges. AI is leading to better effeciency and access, but also demands responsible usage with digital safety, especially for the younger generations.