MAM
Pai charts a Prime course with content strategy role at Amazon
MUMBAI: From broadcast boardrooms to the streaming screen, Saurabh Pai is now scripting his next chapter at Amazon. The media and strategy specialist has taken on a new role in content strategy at Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, marking a pivotal move in his two-decade-long career in content, analytics, and business planning.
Known for bringing a data-driven approach to programming decisions, Pai’s new position comes after a nearly three-year stint at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., where he served as director of network strategy. There, he played a key role in streamlining content planning across the network’s bouquet of channels, using tools like Looker and deep market insights to sharpen audience segmentation and performance forecasting.
Before Zee, Pai spent close to seven years at Times Television Network, where he wore multiple hats across content and product management. From crafting viewer-first propositions to budgeting and performance tracking, he emerged as a critical thinker with a flair for aligning content with consumer intent.
His career also includes a previous stint at Zee as Research Head for niche channels and product lead for Zee Studio, where his early work shaped how the network approached English-language content in India.
At Prime Video, Pai will help steer content decisions in one of the world’s most dynamic and competitive streaming markets. With streaming giants increasingly leaning on insight-led content curation, his hybrid background in content, data and distribution is expected to play a key role in shaping Amazon’s next wave of originals and acquisitions in India.
One thing’s clear: with this move, Pai isn’t just tuning in, he’s ready to help write the next big streaming script.
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.
