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Saavn Expands Original Programming with New Genres and A-List Entertainers
MUMBAI: Saavn today revealed an entirely new slate of original programming to debut in August and September. The new collection of shows includes Film Companion with Anupama Chopra and #NoFilter Neha hosted by Neha Dhupia. Additionally, Raghu Dixit, internationally acclaimed Indian Indie musician & music director, joins Saavn’s Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program. These exciting announcements follow the launch of Saavn’s Original Programming in April 2016, which marked the evolution of India’s largest music streaming service into a multimedia entertainment streaming platform.
Starting August 11th, Saavn Originals will premiereFilm Companion with Anupama Chopra. In addition to movie reviews, Film Companion will feature interviews with A-list film stars, as well an in-depth look at what’s worth watching in India’s ever-growing movie scene. “I’m very excited to be on Saavn,” said Anupama Chopra, “I’ve never done a long form audio show before and this is both an exciting and challenging opportunity. I hope to learn and grow with Saavn.”
In Film Companion’s special premiere episode, Anupama talks to the who’s who of Bollywood music in a power-packed panel including music director duo Vishal-Shekhar, well-known Indian film composer, musician, singer and lyricist Amit Trivedi, and the famous music composer and a guitarist, Ehsaan Noorani, on the changing landscape and future of Bollywood and the music industry. Following this premiere, Film Companion with Anupama Chopra will stream twice weekly every Thursday and Friday on Saavn.
Saavn also adds tongue-in-cheek talk show#NoFilter Neha with Neha Dhupia to the Saavn Originals lineup. Neha, a well-known Indian Bollywood actor and former Femina Miss India Universe 2002, will be in conversation with celebrities from Bollywood, fashion, sports, and music in her notoriously wicked style. “A big inspiration for me are Tina Fey, Ellen DeGeneres, Madonna and other dynamic strong women who are constantly pushing themselves and doing so many things,” said Neha Dupia. “For me having an audio chat show is another exciting challenge which I hope gives me another opportunity to show my quirky side. Saavn to me is a place where the talented meet the cool and vice-versa and I am happy to get on board with them as a content creator.”
#NoFilter promises to shock, awe, and delight Saavn’s 18 million listeners starting mid-September.
“This is a breakthrough moment for us,” said Gaurav Wadhwa, VP of Entertainment and Originals at Saavn. “In addition to widening our fan base, these new shows will help to solidify Saavn’s transition from music streaming to becoming a global entertainment streaming hub. We’re ecstatic to bring these shows to our growing audience and can’t wait to bring them even more fantastic programming.”
Apart from these new shows, Saavn announces internationally renowned artist Raghu Dixit as the next musician to join Saavn’s Artist-in-Residence program, Saavn’s in-house program for independent and breakthrough artists. Building on AiR’s successful launch with popular electronic artist Nucleya, Dixit will create new music, playlists, collaborations and audio shows exclusively for Saavn, expanding Saavn’s already diverse Indie music and Regional music offerings.
“I’m really excited about my partnership with Saavn for the Artist-in-Residence initiative,” said Raghu Dixit, “I love the freedom that Saavn gives the artist and the trust they display in giving artist full control over content being created. I know that with their diverse and highly engaged listeners, this partnership will be a great step forward in taking quality Indian independent music around the world.”
Having previously performed for the Queen of England at the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Windsor, as well as the largest festival in Glastonbury, Dixit is no stranger to the world stage. On August 5th, Dixit embarks on the most extensive tour of his career – the “Masterplan for Happiness” tour taking place in the U.S., Canada, Ireland and the U.K. To kick off Dixit’s debut as Saavn’s AiR, Saavn will be backing Dixit’s global tour by promoting the tour through Saavn’s app and social channels.
The full slate of Saavn Originals, debuting this August and September, includes:
1. Passport Approved with Sat Bisla, launching on 2nd August.
2. Film Companion with Anupama Chopra, launching on 11th August.
3. Ek Kahaani Aisi Bhi launching on 19th August.
4. Audioboom syndicated shows launching in the first week of August:
• Like-minded friends
• The Comedy Score
• Hip Hop saved my life with Romesh Ranganathan
• The Cricket Podblast
• Official Leicester City Podcast
• United We Stand
• The Football Forum
• Walsh on Film
• Undisclosed – State vs Adnan Syed
5. #NoFilter Neha by Neha Dhupia launching mid-September
eNews
AI could replace half of entry-level white-collar work: Anthropic study
Hiring in AI-exposed occupations fell 14 per cent post-ChatGPT
SAN FRANCISCO: From lamplighters to elevator operators, waves of technology have repeatedly erased once-common jobs. Now artificial intelligence may be poised to do the same for large swathes of professional work.
A new study by Anthropic suggests that while AI tools are technically capable of performing many knowledge-economy tasks, real-world adoption lags far behind that potential, at least for now.
The report, Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence, by Maxim Massenkoff and Peter McCrory, introduces a new metric called “observed exposure,” which compares what AI systems could theoretically perform with what they are actually doing in workplaces.
Using professional interaction data from Anthropic’s Claude model, the researchers found that AI could theoretically cover a wide share of tasks in business, finance, management, computing, mathematics, legal services and office administration. Yet current adoption represents only a small fraction of those capabilities.
That gap between potential and reality reflects a mix of legal barriers, technical limitations and the continued need for human oversight, the study said. But the authors suggest those constraints may prove temporary as the technology matures.
Warnings about AI’s impact on white-collar employment have been growing. CEO Dario Amodei has previously argued that AI could disrupt as much as half of entry-level professional work, while Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has suggested that most professional tasks could eventually be automated within 12 to 18 months.
Highly educated workers most exposed
Contrary to common assumptions, the study finds that workers most exposed to AI are not those in manual labour but highly educated professionals. The most exposed group is 16 percentage points more likely to be female, earns on average 47 per cent more than the least exposed group and is nearly four times as likely to hold a graduate degree.
Occupations including computer programmers, customer service representatives and data entry clerks are among the most vulnerable to automation.
Yet even in highly exposed fields, AI is not yet replacing jobs at scale. The researchers cite routine medical tasks, such as authorising prescription refills, as examples that AI could technically perform but is not widely observed doing in practice.
In the report’s visual framework, actual AI usage (the “red area”) remains far smaller than the theoretical “blue area” of possible tasks. Over time, the researchers expect the red area to expand as adoption deepens.
At the other end of the labour market, roughly 30 per cent of occupations show virtually no AI exposure. Roles such as cooks, mechanics, bartenders and dishwashers still depend heavily on physical presence and manual work that large language models cannot replicate.
Hiring slowdown rather than layoffs
So far the clearest labour-market signal is not mass layoffs but a slowdown in hiring within AI-exposed occupations.
According to the study, job-finding rates in those sectors have fallen about 14 per cent since the arrival of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT compared with 2022 levels. A separate study cited by the authors found a 16 per cent drop in employment among workers aged 22 to 25 in AI-exposed roles.
Recent labour data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also point to softer hiring conditions, with employers shedding 92,000 jobs in February and unemployment rising to 4.4 per cent.
Some companies have already linked layoffs to automation. Jack Dorsey said his payments firm Block recently cut nearly half its workforce in part because AI tools allow smaller teams to operate more efficiently.
Not everyone is convinced the technology is solely responsible. Critics such as Marc Benioff have accused some firms of “AI washing”, using automation as a convenient explanation for cost-cutting measures.
Still, the researchers warn that the longer-term risk is a potential “white-collar recession”. If unemployment in the most AI-exposed occupations were to double, from about 3 per cent to 6 per cent, it would mirror the scale of labour-market disruption seen during the Global Financial Crisis.
For now, the shift may simply mean fewer entry-level openings. Some young workers are staying longer in existing roles, switching sectors or returning to education rather than entering AI-exposed fields.
