The inaugural day of WAVES 2025, a global media and entertainment summit organized by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, showcased the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in redefining creativity and storytelling. Held in Mumbai, the summit featured three pivotal sessions led by global industry leaders from Adobe and NVIDIA, who underscored India’s growing influence in the AI-driven creative economy.
In a keynote address titled “Design, Media and Creativity in the Age of AI,” Shantanu Narayen, Chairman and CEO of Adobe, traced the evolution of the digital era—from the internet to mobile and now AI. He highlighted India’s pivotal role, with over 500 million Indians consuming online content, increasingly in regional languages. “Creativity has transformed every industry,” Narayen said, emphasizing that AI is not a threat to creativity but a catalyst. “Generative AI is enabling Indian creators to transcend traditional mediums,” he noted, citing its impact on imaging, video, and design.
Narayen outlined a four-pronged strategy for India to lead the AI-powered creative revolution: supercharging creativity and production, innovating business models, building an AI-skilled workforce, and fostering entrepreneurship. He praised the Government of India and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for launching WAVES as a visionary platform to drive this transformation.
In a fireside chat titled “AI Beyond Work,” NVIDIA’s Vice President Richard Kerris and Managing Director for NVIDIA India, Vishal Dhupar, explored AI’s role in enhancing creative productivity. Dhupar reflected on the evolution of personal computing, stating, “PCs used to sleep after office hours. But humans don’t.” He credited NVIDIA’s early vision of PCs as creative tools, now realized through AI advancements.
Kerris emphasized that AI accelerates the creative process without replacing human skill. “AI isn’t here to replace jobs—it’s a means to an end,” he said, comparing modern AI tools to the democratization of photography. “Just because we all have a camera on our phone doesn’t make us all great photographers,” he cautioned, stressing the importance of mastering fundamentals. Both leaders agreed that AI empowers creators by providing tools to bring ideas to life faster, while creativity remains a human-driven craft.
In a masterclass titled “Bringing Stories to Life with Gen AI,” Anish Mukherjee, Solutions Architect at NVIDIA, demonstrated practical applications of generative AI in media production. Showcasing NVIDIA’s platform, Mukherjee highlighted tools like the Fugato model for AI-generated music, multilingual voice-overs, and realistic lip-syncing for dubbing. He also introduced Cosmos, a suite of foundational models for video generation and simulation-based training via NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform.
Mukherjee explained how large language models, combined with AI animation and DLSS, are creating immersive storytelling experiences, particularly in gaming. “AI-powered characters that respond intelligently to players are redefining narrative engagement,” he said. He urged creators to leverage compute power, rich datasets, and NVIDIA’s open-source ecosystem, including Nemostack, to build custom AI models and drive innovation.
The sessions collectively delivered a clear message: AI is an empowering tool that amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it. From design and film to animation and gaming, the future hinges on mastering fundamentals, using AI responsibly, and fostering ethical, inclusive systems.
