The Rs 20 lakh ad that now costs Rs 4 lakh

Last week, I watched an ad so perfectly crafted that I immediately shared it with my team. The storytelling was sharp, the visuals stunning, the music perfectly timed. Then I discovered something that made me pause: it was entirely AI-generated.

Here's the uncomfortable truth we're all dancing around – India's advertising industry is experiencing the most dramatic transformation in its history, and we're not sure if we should be celebrating or worried.

Let me share some numbers that will make you think twice about what's really happening in our creative industry. India's advertising market is racing toward Rs 1.64 lakh crore in 2025, with over 60% now digital. But here's the kicker – the AI market in India is projected to triple to $17 billion by 2027², and it's fundamentally changing how ads get made.

Remember when creating a 2–3-minute TV commercial meant months of planning, celebrity shoots, and budgets of Rs 20-25 lakh? Today, AI can produce the same quality for just Rs 4-4.5 lakh – with unlimited regional variations created almost instantly. Major Indian brands like Dabur, Tata CliQ, and Joyalukkas are already making this shift, sometimes eliminating human shoots entirely.

I recently spoke with a friend who runs a mid-sized creative agency in Mumbai. She told me something that sent chills down my spine: "We used to hire 5-6 fresh graduates every quarter for junior creative roles. This year, we've hired zero. AI handles what they used to do."

This isn't a distant future scenario – it's happening right now. Production houses are predicting a decline over the next 18 months as AI tools reduce the need for live shoots. Entry-level roles in copywriting, design, and video editing are disappearing faster than we can retrain people for new ones.

But here's where it gets interesting – and controversial. Indian consumers are more open to AI-generated content than anyone else in the world. While only 23% of global consumers trust AI-driven promotional content, 48% of Indians do. An overwhelming 82% are open to AI-generated purchase recommendations. We're essentially the perfect testing ground for the complete automation of creativity.

This creates a fascinating paradox. We're witnessing unprecedented efficiency gains – campaigns that would take weeks now launch in days, costs have plummeted, and personalization has reached levels we never thought possible. Brands can create hundreds of variations of the same ad, each tailored to specific demographics, languages, and cultural nuances.

Yet something feels fundamentally wrong about this picture. When a computer algorithm can craft an emotional story better than a human who's lived through real emotions, what does that say about the value of human experience in creativity? When machine learning can predict consumer behaviour more accurately than someone who's spent years studying human psychology, are we making progress or losing something essential?

Perhaps the real question isn't whether AI can replace human creativity, but whether we want it to.

The uncomfortable question haunting our industry is this: Are Indian agencies leading the world in digital transformation, or are we quietly pioneering the extinction of creative careers in the name of efficiency? Every cost saving, every optimization, every "smart" automation is potentially eliminating someone's livelihood – and we're celebrating it as innovation.

I'm not suggesting we should resist technological progress. But maybe we need to pause and ask ourselves what we're really optimizing for. Are we building a more creative world, or are we just building a more efficient one? And if efficiency becomes our only measure of success, what happens to the magic of human storytelling?

The creative industry has always been about more than just delivering results – it's been about nurturing young talent, fostering original thinking, and celebrating the uniquely human ability to connect with other humans through stories. When algorithms can do this better than humans, we might be solving the wrong problem.

Perhaps the real question isn't whether AI can replace human creativity, but whether we want it to. Because once we cross that line, there might be no going back to valuing the beautiful imperfection of human imagination.

So, here's what I'm curious about: Are you comfortable with a world where your favourite ads are crafted by algorithms? Would you rather have perfectly optimised content that converts, or imperfectly human stories that move you? And if you're working in the creative industry, how are you preparing for a future where your most valuable skill might be collaborating with machines rather than competing with them?

Let's have this conversation now, while we still can shape the direction we're heading.

The author was the former Group COO at Cheil India. This article was first published on LinkedIn and has been republished with permission from the author.