Digital
Sawhney jumps ship to Campbell Pacific, eyes Indian media pie
MUMBAI: Rajiv S Sawhney, a seasoned tech and digital whizz, has landed a new gig as country manager for India at Campbell Pacific Media, hot on the heels of his stint at Thakral Corp. Sawhney, who boasts a CV sprinkled with big names like Amazon, Yahoo, and even a sojourn with Manchester United, is set to spearhead the firm’s expansion into the bustling Indian market.
Campbell Pacific Media, a “unique independent media consultancy,” is betting on Sawhney’s knack for forging strategic partnerships and navigating the choppy waters of emerging markets. The aim? To leverage his expertise in CRM and new media to whip up customer engagement strategies that’ll have brands and ad tech companies salivating.
With a network of over 1000+ entrepreneurs, founders, industry experts, agencies, brands & freelance partners, Campbell Pacific is clearly aiming to be the go-to for anyone looking to crack the Asian market.
Prior to this, Sawhney clocked nearly five years at Thakral Corp, where he steered the ship as vice president and general manager for India and South Asia, and briefly as chief executive officer of Thakral One Solutions. His past exploits also include a stint as a strategy advisor for Manchester United.
Before that, he was busy at Amazon, leading business development and partnerships in Singapore, and at Yahoo, where he was senior director and head of global partnerships for APAC. He also served as a founding team member and business head at Reliance Group’s Zapak Digital Entertainment, and as head of ecommerce at Times Internet.
Sawhney’s move signals Campbell Pacific’s ambitious play in India’s burgeoning digital and ad-tech landscape. With his track record, they’re clearly hoping he can score a hat-trick in the Indian market
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
