Digital
Explurger’s rise echoes at G20 as Jitin Bhatia meets PM Modi
Bhatia was part of an eight-member delegation of Indian-origin tech entrepreneurs invited for a focused interaction with the Prime Minister, spotlighting India’s rising influence in digital innovation. The meeting, though brief, underscored the Centre’s growing commitment to encourage home-grown platforms gaining worldwide traction.
This year’s G20 , the first to be hosted on African soil, put a sharp emphasis on shared economic resilience, equitable digital access and the future of global data flows. With its reputation for interoperable digital public infrastructure, India played an outsized role in shaping conversations around technology, mobility and cross-border digital ecosystems.
During the session, Bhatia presented Explurger, the Made-in-India social platform blending travel journaling, gamified rewards and real-time discovery. With 18 million users across 75 countries, the app was showcased as a rising example of how Indian consumer tech is now influencing global habits in travel, tourism and community-building.
Reflecting on the interaction, Bhatia said the meeting felt “energising and grounding,” noting that the Prime Minister engaged deeply with ideas around tourism, AI and digital mobility. “Modi ji asked sharp, practical questions. He didn’t feel like a distant policymaker, he felt like someone who understands what startups face on the ground,” he said.
The Prime Minister used the roundtable to encourage founders to build confidently for the world, drawing strength from India’s expanding innovation landscape. He highlighted emerging opportunities in AI-driven travel tools, digital identity systems and platforms that enhance cultural visibility for developing economies.
For Explurger, the G20 spotlight adds further momentum to its image as a ‘Make in India’ platform with global ambitions, strengthening its position in shaping how people move, explore and record their travel stories worldwide.
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.
