Al raises the bar for what makes a good story: JioStar CMO Sushant Sreeram

Artificial intelligence may be making storytelling more accessible, but it is also raising expectations of what qualifies as a compelling narrative. That was the core argument put forward by Sushant Sreeram, CMO and head of SVOD at JioStar, during the session ‘Where Content Meets Code: Reimagining Storytelling’ at the Impact AI Summit in New Delhi.

Besides Sreeram, the panel brought together Tyrone Estephan, managing director of Alt VFX; Merzin Tavaria, co-founder and president of global production operations at DNEG; Niraj Ruparel, creative technology lead at WPP Media; Vatsal Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Prismix Studios; and advertising veteran Prasoon Joshi. The discussion aimed to explore how AI is reshaping the way stories are imagined, produced and experienced, and what that means for creativity, craft and conviction in the years ahead.

“There have largely been two big revolutions when it comes to technology in India so far,” Sreeram said. “The last 20 to 25 years were predominantly about infrastructure capability. In the next 20 to 30 years, I think it is going to be about imagination.”

While AI can significantly reduce production timelines and optimise resources, Sreeram emphasised that it does not originate intent. Referring to a retelling of the Mahabharata (AI-powered animated series by JioStar), he clarified, “AI did not do the Mahabharata. What AI helped do was collapse the time, the resources and the energy it takes to bring a story to life.”

In his view, the democratisation of tools does not weaken craft. “In a world where AI helps storytellers create artifacts, I think it raises the bar as a whole for what makes a good story,” he said, adding that access alone does not guarantee impact. AI may provide signals and probabilities, but “human conviction and instinct” still determine what ultimately gets made.

Beyond generative tools, Sreeram pointed to AI’s role in delivering seamless live sports, where even a single dropped frame can disrupt a national moment. The technology, he argued, must be judged not only by novelty, but by how productively it is applied.

If Sreeram framed the conversation around standards and imagination, ad veteran Prasoon Joshi expanded it into philosophy. Creativity, he argued, has never been static. From prehistoric cave art to the Renaissance and the industrial era, the tools have changed, but expression has endured.

“How you define creativity for a human being is very important,” Joshi said, questioning whether it is limited to poetry, music and painting, or whether it evolves with context. For him, AI is not “artificial” in the simplistic sense. “It is real data and real human experience being converted into computational combinations and experimentation.”

Joshi described the creative process as one of revelation. A poet or composer often begins with only a broad sense of direction, discovering the work through iteration. AI may offer multiple outputs, but authorship lies in selection. “The choice of what I go with, even if there are five options, is what makes me an artist,” he said. Human creativity, he added, is rooted in aspiration and in what remains unexpressed. That potential, he suggested, cannot be mechanised.

From a visual effects standpoint, Tyrone Estephan, managing director of Alt VFX, a visual effects (VFX) and post-production studio, reflected on how quickly generative AI has evolved since the early experiments during the pandemic. The first iterations were technically impressive but limited. Today’s outputs are far more sophisticated, yet he acknowledged a lingering discomfort among audiences.

“There is something happening at a subconscious level,” he suggested, noting that many people remain wary of AI-generated content. The resistance, he argued, is less about capability and more about authenticity. Viewers want proof that what they are seeing or hearing comes from a genuine place. Even the most advanced synthetic creations can feel flawed if they lack perceived intention. For Estephan, artistry still demands more than technical precision. It requires meaning.

Merzin Tavaria, co-founder and president of global production operations at DNEG, another visual effects studio, offered a production lens. Storytelling, he said, exists on a spectrum. Short-form digital content, social media videos and big-screen IMAX films operate under very different expectations.

“At the highest level, the filmmaker’s vision is so strong, and the attention to detail where everything is art directed sets it apart,” he noted. AI, in this context, is not an end-to-end replacement for the filmmaking process. Instead, it is “plugged in” at specific stages such as visualisation, research and development, and rendering. Machine learning has long been embedded in visual effects workflows. What has changed is its scale and accessibility.

Tavaria also underlined the importance of ethical use. As AI becomes more powerful, questions around ownership, consent and job displacement become harder to ignore. The technology, he said, is here to stay. The responsibility lies in how it is deployed.

Vatsal Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Prismix Studios, an AI-driven media company, approached AI from the perspective of opportunity. For decades, many talented writers and directors have struggled to secure budgets. AI, he argued, lowers barriers to experimentation.

“With AI, there is a possibility of doing more projects a year,” he said, explaining that tools can help creators visualise and execute ideas that might otherwise remain on paper. At his studio, young filmmakers are being given opportunities to bring ambitious concepts to life with fewer constraints. For Sheth, the optimism lies in access and iteration.

Niraj Ruparel, creative technology lead at WPP Media, broadened the discussion to inclusion and scale. Technology, he argued, must move beyond elite circles. “The success of any system is to take the entire population along,” he said, advocating for AI solutions that reach the bottom of the pyramid.

He described experiments in voice-based AI systems that allow even basic mobile phones to access intelligent responses. As India’s connectivity improves, marketing and storytelling must evolve at speed. For Ruparel, the shift from large language models to more action-oriented, multimodal systems signals a future where AI does not just respond, but participates in co-creation.