Mumbai CultureCon speakers discuss AI and artistic labour

At the National Centre for the Performing Arts, a patchy phone signal briefly pulled CultureCon 2026 attendees away from their screens and towards a larger question: what remains human when AI can generate music, images, text and video?

Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Arts said technology had long made creative participation more accessible, pointing to phones that turned people into photographers, filmmakers and influencers. But Roshan Abbas, a storyteller and media entrepreneur, distinguished between aggregation and invention. “Art is created in the flaw, art is created in the anomaly,” he said, describing AI as a tool that draws from what already exists.

Musician and producer Karsh Kale said AI can study the work of Mozart, Bach, Ustad Zakir Hussain and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but cannot predict what an artiste would create next.

Jishnu Dasgupta, bassist and manager of Swarathma, said AI should not become integral to planning or producing events. He argued that it cannot replace human judgment when organisers and artists attempt something new.