Digital
Star power gets smart as JioStarverse charts influencer ROI galaxy
MUMBAI: Who said stardom can’t be strategic? JioStar is flipping the influencer playbook with the launch of JioStarverse, a savvy, data-fuelled marketing platform designed to help brands navigate the ever-expanding creator cosmos with precision and measurable returns.
Gone are the days when follower counts and vanity metrics ruled the roost. In today’s ROI-obsessed marketing world, it’s all about reach and relevance and JioStarverse is stepping in as the ultimate GPS. Backed by AI smarts and powered by Qoruz, the platform promises to decode the complex creator economy with a heady mix of audience intelligence, real-time tracking and campaign performance analytics.
“The influencer marketing landscape has moved far beyond just reach and impressions. Today, marketers are looking for authenticity, brand relevance and a clear link to business impact. Our aim with JioStarverse, is to deliver exactly that. The platform’s AI-led insights, precision targeting and campaign optimisation capabilities align perfectly with our goal of offering smarter, scalable, and accountable influencer solutions to brands. JioStar is home to iconic characters who are influencers both on and off screens, and this association gives us better visibility into our deep talent pool, allowing us to design more informed, impactful, and brand-relevant campaigns,” said JioStar head of revenue entertainment and international Ajit Varghese.”
With a constellation of over 500 JioStar talents from digital darlings to screen sensations the platform enables brands and agencies to zero in on the right influencer fit, monitor content engagement live, and pull campaign insights that actually inform the next move. Whether the goal is to spark conversation or conversions, JioStarverse claims to turn influence into impact.
For marketers chasing more than just likes and shares, this might be the launch that finally brings influencer marketing down to earth and makes it truly worth the investment.
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.
