Digital
Gautam Sinha, former CEO of Times Internet launches his new venture SimpleO
Mumbai: Gautam Sinha, the former – CEO of Times Internet has embarked on a new entrepreneurial journey with the launch of SimpleO.ai. With SimpleO.ai (short for Simple Office), Gautam and his team are on a mission to simplify the enterprise using AI, starting with the management of contracts and the risks, obligations, SLA’s, audits, compliance, and governance associated with them.
Gautam is a global executive with over 35 years of rich experience including a wealth of startup and industry expertise. Prior to confounding SimpleO, Gautam was the CEO of Times Internet Ltd., the digital arm of The Times of India Group, where he drove the strategy, vision, and execution for all the internet, mobile and telecommunication properties of the group. With iconic brands like Times of India, Economic Times, Gaana, Mx, Magicbricks, TLabs, Dineout, Cricbuzz, Gradeup under the flagship of Times Internet, his contribution to the internet economy of India is well acknowledged.
Prior to Times Internet Ltd., Gautam was the chief operating officer of CashEdge Inc., a company based out of New York and California working in payments and wealth management, where he worked since 2001 building and leading the company from startup to profitability. Prior to CashEdge, he held senior management positions at Sevant, Aspect Communications, at the Neural Applications Corporation, and as a scientist at the ministry of defense in India (DRDO).
Reflecting on his new venture Gautam Sinha, said, “I used to have a personal pain point around management of contracts. I used to sign many contracts on any average day, and with that used to take risks, obligations, SLA’s, governance, and audit commitments on behalf of the organization. However, there were no end-to-end smart/AI tools to automatically dashboard and manage the risks, obligations, SLA’s, audits, compliance, and governance around the tens of thousands of signed contracts. Even the process of creating, negotiating, and executing contracts was very tedious and time consuming. With the maturing of GenAI, we saw an opportunity to radically simplify the entire lifecycle and manageability of contracts by building a legal-grade GenAI product suite. SimpleO strives to infuse simplicity into the core of corporate operations, offering an innovative solution for the efficient and effective management of contract lifecycles. We believe that tackling this challenge will contribute to the overall efficiency and success of organizations, allowing them to focus on what matters the most.”
SimpleO.ai is backed by successful investors and entrepreneurs in US and India, Satyan Gajwani, Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Mukesh Singh and Vetri Vellore.
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.
