Digital
Marcus Ranney moves on from Thrive Global
NEW DELHI: Thrive Global India general manager Marcus Ranney has moved on from the organisation. He joined the company is 2018 and spent nearly three years before leaving.
Ranney spearheaded the growth of Thrive Global in India and was responsible for P&L of the brand. He created partnerships with 75 plus organisations and clients and impacted lives across APAC.
Thrive Global, the technology-based media and corporate services company helping individuals, companies and communities improve their well-being and performance, was founded by Arianna Huffington in November 2016. It came to India in 2017 in partnership with Times Bridge, a division of Times Group, that works with global brands having an India ambition. The platform aims to end the global stress and epidemic burnout.
Coming from a medical background, Ranney has 20 years of experience in his career. Trained as a doctor at University College London, he practised clinical medicine in the UK before making the transition to Mumbai in 2011, where he has since worked within the healthcare and life sciences industry as a venture capitalist and strategic advisor. He has been instrumental in creating large portfolios of digital health assets. Ranney is an active member of the World Economic Forum global shapers community and is a writer focused on artificial intelligence, automation and their future impact on our collective well-being. He is an active outdoorsman and long distance runner, and has participated in expeditions to Mt. Everest, the Arctic Circle and the European Alps; he has also served as a medical officer in the Royal Air Force and at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He is also a global health commentator on Forbes.
Ranney was also VP investments at RoundGlass, and an advisor to multiple start-ups in the health and life sciences sector.
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.
