CultureCon Mumbai 2026 Puts AI Bot on Stage to Debate Who Owns India’s Creative Economy?

What happens when artificial intelligence stops being the subject of a debate and becomes one of the debaters? CultureCon Mumbai 2026 attempted to answer that question by putting an AI bot on stage alongside entertainment professional and creative entrepreneur Roshan Abbas.

The session, titled ‘The Big Fight’, was held in collaboration with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and centred on a provocative question: “In the age of AI, who owns India’s creative economy – the human who imagines or the machine that executes?”

Moderated by Rashmi Dhanwani, the session brought the growing debate around artificial intelligence, creativity and ownership into a live setting, with audiences watching an AI avatar engage in real-time arguments.

AI Bot Steps In After Last-Minute Change

The unusual format emerged from an unexpected development. Vijay Subramaniam, who had been scheduled to debate Abbas, was unable to attend after falling ill. Rather than cancel the session, the CultureCon team built an AI avatar overnight.

The replacement turned a scheduling setback into a practical demonstration of the very issue under discussion. Instead of simply talking about AI’s growing role in creative industries, CultureCon effectively put AI inside the creative conversation.

The AI bot, named Sagar, argued that artificial intelligence could expand access to creativity by reducing production costs and lowering barriers for emerging creators.

Roshan Abbas Questions AI’s Understanding of Creativity

Abbas challenged that proposition, arguing that creativity cannot be separated from human experience. He pointed to emotions, memories, relationships and lived experiences as the foundations from which genuinely new creative ideas emerge.

He questioned whether an AI system built on vast amounts of existing information could truly understand experiences such as childhood, heartbreak, love and memory.

“At CultureCon, we celebrate ideas that are created, challenged and debated. AI has an important role to play, and I have no hesitation in using it as a tool. But we cannot confuse the speed of production with the depth of creation. Culture is shaped by lived experiences, and technology should empower creators, not become the creator itself,” Abbas said.

He also distinguished AI and platforms such as YouTube and Spotify. While distribution platforms help creators reach audiences, Abbas argued that generative AI enters the creative process itself.

AI Argues Technology Can Democratise Creativity

Sagar offered the opposing view, arguing that AI does not necessarily eliminate creativity but can make creative production more accessible.

The AI avatar suggested that lower production costs and easier access to creative tools could enable more people across India to create and distribute content without relying on traditional industry gatekeepers.

That argument shifted the conversation from whether AI can create to whether it could potentially make India’s creative economy more inclusive.

Copyright, Consent and Creative Jobs Enter Debate

The discussion subsequently expanded into some of the biggest unresolved questions surrounding generative AI, including copyright, consent, regulation, environmental costs and the future of creative employment.

Abbas questioned the ethics of training AI systems using existing creative works without creators’ consent. Sagar countered that such concerns should lead to stronger regulation and responsible use rather than outright rejection of the technology.

The audience also became part of the experiment, asking questions that prompted both humorous and serious exchanges. When one audience member asked how many bottles of water had been consumed for Sagar to answer the questions, the AI avatar avoided providing a direct response.

CultureCon Audience Sides With Human Creativity

The session concluded with a live audience vote. A majority backed Abbas, signalling that while AI is expected to transform India’s creative industries, many in the room remained unconvinced that technology alone can make the country’s creative economy qualitatively richer or more equal over the next five years.

The result also underscored the central tension of the debate: AI may dramatically accelerate how creative work is produced, but questions remain over authorship, originality, consent and the human experiences that give culture its meaning.