Collective Artists Network’s Vijay Subramaniam on AI and the changing media landscape

Vijay Subramaniam is the founder of Collective Artists Network and a media entrepreneur focused on bringing disconnected parts of entertainment together. Traditionally, agencies managed talent, studios produced films, platforms distributed content, and brands bought audience attention. His company is building across those boundaries instead of operating in one narrow category.

The network is developing layers across talent communities, marketing communities and technology. It also sees one story or character as the starting point for several businesses, including films, series, brand partnerships and other commercial opportunities. Its G5 tool is being shaped with input from four National Award-winning directors.

This model reflects a wider media rebundle. Creators are becoming businesses, technology is changing production, and commerce is moving closer to storytelling. Subramaniam says Collective Artists Network has the world’s largest slate of AI-enabled content, aiming to help more people turn creative visions into finished work.

“AI-enabled content” means using artificial intelligence inside a real production process, rather than asking a tool for a finished script or video. The technology can help realise a creator’s vision, but it does not replace the creative decisions that give a story structure, feeling and purpose. That distinction matters as AI makes media production more accessible.

Subramaniam compares the process with animation. A production still needs a production designer, costume designer and director of photography, or DOP. His G5 tool was built from the requirements of four National Award-winning directors. Their practical input shaped what the product needed to do.

The article also describes improvements in later AI releases. After the first fully AI-generated Mahabharat animated and visual series, the team said it had improved emotion, comic timing, stress, grief and other expressions. The model is therefore human-led production supported by AI, not automatic storytelling.

The “great media rebundle” describes the collapse of old industry silos. Talent agencies once managed stars, studios made films, platforms distributed them, and brands paid to reach audiences. The emerging model connects these functions more closely, because creators and companies can develop, distribute and monetise stories across several channels.

A single character or story can now support films, series, brand partnerships and other commercial work. Collective Artists Network is building layers across talent communities, marketing communities and technology. Its approach treats media creation as an ecosystem rather than a sequence of separate businesses. AI is one of the tools helping those layers connect.

The shift also changes who can participate. Creators are building businesses directly, while technology can help turn a vision into content. The article presents this as a continuing transformation, not a completed replacement of the old system. Businesses that fail to move with the times risk losing ground.

Subramaniam expects AI to change both the economics and the reach of media creation. He says businesses will be “two hundred per cent” more profitable because of the technology. Lower production barriers could let companies make films, series and other content with fewer traditional constraints, while still building new commercial opportunities around stories and characters.

The key mechanism is not total automation. AI gives creators a way to realise a vision, even if they are outside established production centres. Subramaniam specifically says a person in Jabalpur or Coimbatore should be able to tell a story. Human specialists still guide the work, while AI supports the production process.

This could make storytelling more democratic and weaken old gatekeeping structures. The article also warns that operators, rather than media itself, may lose if they do not adapt. AI creates opportunity, but success still depends on useful tools, strong stories, human direction and audiences willing to watch.

Subramaniam believes human roles remain necessary because production is more than generating words or images. A director turns an idea into a coherent vision. Designers establish the visual world, costumes communicate character, and a DOP decides how scenes should look and feel. These choices require interpretation, taste and collaboration.

He compares AI-assisted production with animation, where many specialised roles work together. His warning is direct: there will never be a point where AI simply cracks the script and dialogue. G5 was built with guidance from Rajesh Mapuskar, Hansal Mehta, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Manu Anand, who told the team what they needed.

AI can support these professionals and make their work more scalable, but it does not remove the need for them. The first Mahabharat release taught the team important lessons. Later releases were expected to show stronger emotion, comic timing, stress, grief and other human expressions.

Subramaniam’s central argument is that content creation should become a level playing field. He says a few elites historically had the opportunity to tell stories, while many others could only consume them. AI can lower the barriers that kept creators outside major industry networks from developing and presenting their ideas.

The article points to new names and fresh talent succeeding after the pandemic years. It cites KGF, Mahavatar Narsimha, Netflix shows, Musafir Cafe and Dhurandhar as examples of work connected with newer breakthroughs. Subramaniam also says someone in Jabalpur or Coimbatore should be able to tell a story. The mechanism is technology that helps turn a creative vision into production.

This expands the creator economy beyond making individual content. Creators can build businesses, develop characters, form brand partnerships and reach audiences directly. AI does not guarantee success, however. Audiences remain unpredictable, and human storytelling and production judgment still matter.

A media business begins with talent and a story, turns them into content, distributes that content, and attracts an audience. Historically, agencies managed stars, studios made films, platforms distributed them, and brands paid to reach viewers. Revenue therefore depended not only on production, but also on audience access and commercial partnerships.

The rebundle brings these pieces closer together. A single story or character can lead to films, series, brand partnerships and other opportunities. AI may reduce production costs and, according to Subramaniam, make businesses 200% more profitable. But the benefit depends on connecting finished content with audiences and sensible business models.

That connection is difficult because viewers are increasingly unpredictable. Subramaniam says every supposed formula eventually breaks. Musafir Cafe challenges assumptions about the scale needed for streaming success. The future therefore belongs to businesses that combine efficient production with strong stories, flexible distribution, audience understanding and viable commerce.