Davos: Actor and climate activist Bhumi Pednekar said that democratizing filmmaking through artificial intelligence (AI) can pave the way for a better future for all.
As one of five young global leaders selected to present transformative ideas for 2025, Pednekar highlighted AI’s potential to democratize filmmaking, increase access to educational content, and uplift marginalised communities within the industry.
Pednekar is here to participate in the WEF Annual Meeting, joined by other ‘Young Global Leaders’ celebrated by the World Economic Forum for their work toward a better world, with the event continuing until January 24.
Giving an example of her 2017 film Toilet Ek Prem Katha (Toilet, A Love Story), which addressed the issue of open defecation, she said the film used a comedic and romantic tone to comment on various themes, from how lack of sanitation creates gender disparity and puts women at risk, to the health hazards of a lack of indoor plumbing.
“The film became a catalyst for change in India and was used as part of the government’s campaign to eradicate open defecation (ODF),” she wrote on the WEF blog.
Pednekar stated that the film was used across rural India, where the problem primarily existed, as an easy-to-understand educational tool. The proportion of the population defecating in the open declined significantly from 2016 to 2022, following government efforts and the film’s release,
She pitched for advances in technology and visual effects to help such stories become more impactful.
she said, “Imagine showing the same film, but modified by AI for global audiences, ensuring the message resonates across languages and regions,”.
Pednekar added, “As an actor and an advocate for equality, I’m most excited about how AI is going to democratize storytelling. I have chosen roles that challenge prevalent beauty standards and centre women and marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community. But there are still too few films made with the female gaze or telling queer stories,”.
Pednekar lamented that studios avoid investing in such films due to high costs and so-called market risks, but AI can change that with lower costs and a shorter filmmaking process.
AI can make female-entric films a sustainable business model and also help make the industry safer for women and marginalized groups by automating unbiased casting processes and identifying patterns of misconduct.
she stated,” Tools could even assist in determining an individual’s fair and impartial compensation,”.
Among other five young global leaders who were asked the same question, Canadian entrepreneur and founder of social enterprise Localised, Ronit Avni called for investing in African talent to build a better future.
Avni said employers often prefer to hire engineering and business talent from long-established tech hubs such as India, Poland, Israel, and the United States, but African job seekers remain under-utilized despite the presence of a growing, highly skilled talent pool.
Avni wrote in the WEF blog that “Much as India has risen as a formidable engineering hub, Africa has the potential to lead the way in carbon and ESG talent,”.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance.
Avni added, “Achieving this will require strategic investment to build candidates’ carbon intelligence now while raising employers’ awareness of this talent pool so that the continent can seize on this transformative moment”.
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