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JioStar appoints Stephan Bugaj to power AI push in entertainment
MUMBAI: JioStar Group is doubling down on artificial intelligence as the next frontier of entertainment. The media and sports giant has appointed Emmy Award winner Stephan Bugaj as senior vice-president, genAI content and technology, tasking him with shaping AI-native experiences and next-generation storytelling for digital-first audiences .
The hire signals a sharper tilt towards intelligent content pipelines, interactive formats and scalable creative frameworks that allow faster experimentation and deeper audience engagement. JioStar wants AI not as garnish but as infrastructure.
Bugaj arrives from Genvid Entertainment, where as chief creative officer he co-developed the Massively Interactive Live Event format, a blend of streaming, gaming and live audience participation. He also built AI-native creative tools for filmmakers and, as creator-showrunner, led interactive productions mixing real-time engagement with premium narrative, pushing the boundaries of intelligent media.
With more than 30 years across technology and creative leadership, Bugaj has held senior roles at DJ2 Entertainment, Pixar Animation Studios, Telltale Games and Hanson Robotics. His work ranges from AI-driven content systems and adaptive narratives to digital production pipelines and immersive platforms, all geared towards expanding creative possibilities.
JioStar has already been seeding AI across its businesses through conversational interfaces, second-screen engagement layers and AI-assisted workflows. Bugaj’s arrival is expected to accelerate innovation in interactive formats built for scale. The company frames the move as part of a broader ambition to influence the future of global entertainment .
JioStar’s reach gives it a large canvas. Its television network and streaming service together touch more than 750 million viewers weekly across markets, making it one of the biggest distribution machines in media.
The bet is straightforward: as screens multiply and attention fragments, smarter content wins. In the race between algorithms and imagination, JioStar is wagering that the two, fused well, can turn viewers into participants and stories into living systems. The show, it seems, is learning to think.
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Beep App launches Gen-Z career platform, clocks 30,000 plus placements
Pune startup turns scrolling into career action with learn-explore-earn model
PUNE: Beep App has rolled out its newly positioned career-focused app aimed at Gen-Z users, as it looks to bridge what it calls a growing gap between exposure and employability among young Indians.
Formerly known as EventBeep, the platform is built around a simple but timely idea: turning everyday scrolling into meaningful career action. The app targets students and early professionals, offering a unified space to explore career options, learn relevant skills and access internships and job opportunities.
At a time when short-form content dominates screen time, Beep is attempting to flip the script by embedding structured, career-oriented insights within a familiar scroll-based interface. The idea is not to disrupt user behaviour, but to redirect it.
The platform spans a wide range of fields, including artificial intelligence, product management, design and data analytics. It provides users with insights into role expectations, required skills and step-by-step career pathways, supported by inputs from industry practitioners.
At the heart of the offering is a “learn, explore, earn” model that integrates discovery, skill-building and hiring into one ecosystem. The company says this closed-loop approach is already gaining traction, with over 30,000 placements facilitated so far.
“Gen-Z does not lack ambition; what they often lack is structured direction,” said Beep App founder and CEO Saurabh Mangrulkar. “The Beep App is designed to organise that exposure into actionable pathways so users can move from intent to execution with greater confidence.”
The launch comes amid a broader shift in India’s job market towards skills-first hiring, where practical experience and demonstrable capabilities are increasingly valued alongside academic qualifications.
Founded in 2021, Beep App has grown steadily within the student ecosystem, connecting over 6.5 million users with opportunities across more than 1,500 colleges and 7,800 hiring companies.
Looking ahead, the company plans to deepen its content across emerging sectors, expand its hiring network and build more personalised career pathways tailored to user behaviour.
As Gen-Z continues to navigate a complex and fast-evolving job market, platforms that can turn curiosity into clarity may well shape the next wave of career discovery.
