WAVES 2025: Adobe Chief Says AI Is the New Power Tool for Indian Influencers

At WAVES 2025 in Mumbai, Adobe Chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen had a clear message for India’s rapidly growing influencer and creator community—AI isn’t replacing creativity; it’s unlocking it. In his keynote address, he called generative AI the new power tool for content creators, allowing them to go beyond traditional formats and tap into new levels of storytelling across video, design, and imaging.

AI as a Creative Catalyst

Shantanu Narayen painted a big picture of how India has evolved digitally—from the early Internet to mobile-first content and now into the AI era. With over 500 million Indians consuming online content and a huge surge in regional language engagement, he pointed out that the creator economy in India is more vibrant than ever. And AI, he believes, is the accelerator this ecosystem has been waiting for.

Also read: WAVES 2025: YouTube Reveals INR 21,000 Crore Earned by Indian Creators in 3 Years

India’s Digital Evolution Meets AI Acceleration

He stressed that GenAI isn’t about automation for convenience—it’s about expanding the boundaries of what creators can imagine and execute. Whether it’s cinematic videos or short-form mobile content, Shantanu Narayen said creative possibilities are growing faster than ever, and Indian influencers are uniquely positioned to lead that charge.

Outlining Adobe’s vision, Narayen shared a four-part strategy for India’s AI-powered creator economy: boosting content production, reimagining monetisation models, building an AI-skilled workforce, and supporting homegrown entrepreneurship in the creative space.

Tech + Talent: A Future-Ready Creative Vision

The session was followed by a thought-provoking fireside chat between Nvidia’s global VP, Richard Kerris, and India MD, Vishal Dhupar. Dhupar reflected on how technology has evolved from desktops that “slept after office hours” to today’s always-on AI-powered tools. Kerris added that while tech has made content creation more accessible, the core of good storytelling still lies in talent and craft. Just like having a camera doesn’t make someone a great photographer, he said, AI tools don’t replace creativity—they enhance it.

Nvidia’s Solutions Architect, Anish Mukherjee, ran through some mind-blowing demos to show what that enhancement looks like. He introduced AI tools to turn still photos into animated digital humans, create multilingual voiceovers, sync lip movements in dubbing, and even generate background scores using AI models like Fugato. He also introduced Cosmos, a suite of foundational models designed to support video generation and simulation-based training on Nvidia’s Omniverse platform.