The Last Station on the Train Line

I began my marketing career in Hindustan Lever Limited 1999.

Since then, I’ve witnessed dramatic changes in content, context, and distribution channels. But through it all, one thing remained constant: human agency. 

Content remained screen-agnostic and resilient. While how we consumed changed, it was still crafted by creative people.

That is, until now. 

Enter AI. We’re living through one of the most profound shifts in the creative industries since the invention of the printing press or the camera. The human hand on the creative steering wheel is no longer essential. Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a productivity tool—it’s a co-creator. 

And in many cases, it might soon become the sole creator.

AI is transforming how content is developed, who gets to make it, and how quickly it moves from idea to execution. Across video, text, code, and images, the creative process is being redefined. What makes this moment powerful is the diversity of approaches because it’s not one tool but a growing ecosystem.

Cinema has always been my creative north star. For big stories and big truths, nothing matches its ability to be bold and nuanced at once. Cinema provides a space for aspiration and authenticity, allowing brands to build character,not just campaigns. The screen becomes a mirror, a stage, and a sanctuary.

At its heart, cinema enables persona building through narrative. It allows values to be seeded, repeated, and nurtured—growing into something consistent and collective. That’s why video storytelling has long been the backbone of great brand-building.

Now, generative tech is pushing that tradition into new territory.

Take Runway, the NYC-based pioneer in AI video generation. Its Gen-3 and Gen-4 models allow users to animate characters, simulate realistic motion, and craft cinematic sequences—all from a simple prompt. It’s a tectonic shift in what’s possible in marketing, design, and film. Runway, backed by major investors like SoftBank and NVIDIA, is reshaping how we tell stories visually.

On the language side, Shanghai-based MiniMax is pushing equally hard. Their MiniMax-M1 model—an open-weight, hybrid-attention reasoning system—handles million-token contexts with speed and precision. From long-form thinking to agent-based workflows, it rivals ‘the best in the West’. Their chatbot Talkie is already a top entertainment app in the U.S., proving that global reach is now frictionless and that AI fluency is borderless.

These players join OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google DeepMind, and Meta AI in building the future. Runway is elevating visual storytelling. MiniMax is advancing language and reasoning. OpenAI is weaving multimodal capability into everyday tools.

Every brand answers two questions: “Who am I?” and “Why buy me?” The cinema screen gave us the room to explore those answers in color, cadence, and light. Think of Kurosawa, Tarantino, Ray, Bergman, Hitchcock, Lean, Scorsese, Nolan, Spielberg and how their work erases the proscenium, allowing us to merge with the moment.

AI-generated video may lack that theatrical flair. It may feel industrial, synthetic, or repetitive. But it will be fast, tireless, and accessible. And just maybe, it will surprise us with new forms of beauty.

The winners in this new creative landscape won’t be those who resist change, but those who learn to collaborate with machines. When a full campaign, pitch, or lesson can be generated by one person in an afternoon, the gap is no longer technical—it’s creative. Imagination and drive are now the real differentiators.

This isn’t just a new set of tools. It’s a new paradigm.

As I reflect on this shift, I’m reminded of Tony Bennett’s haunting words:

“Take my hand, I’m a stranger in Paradise… All lost in a wonderland…”

Yes, it’s unfamiliar. Yes, it’s dazzling.

But I still earnestly believe the world is bigger than the last stop on the train line.