After two decades in Indian advertising, I’ve seen technologies rise and fade—Photoshop, social media, data-driven dashboards. But AI feels different. Not because it’s “bad,” but because it’s dangerously easy.
I say this as someone who has embraced it. In the last two years, I’ve created several campaigns where AI tools played a big role. They impressed clients, yes—mainly because it was “the new thing.” But if I’m honest, the work never felt deeply satisfying. The gloss was there, but the soul was missing.
Real creativity has always come from struggle—blank pages, silences, lived moments: gossip on a Mumbai train, the whistle of a cooker, late-night chai debates. AI can’t feel these. It only recycles what already exists. The result? Work that looks polished, but often identical. In an industry built on difference, sameness is deadly.
Worse, AI shifts our mindset. Advertising once demanded conviction—you fought for an idea. Now it’s easy to hide behind “the algorithm suggested this.” Risk gets outsourced, courage disappears.
AI can still be a useful tool. But if it becomes a crutch, we’ll lose the craft that made Indian advertising special—its rootedness in everyday life. The danger isn’t machines replacing us. It’s us replacing ourselves.
