That question sets the ball rolling for this episode. In the next hour, Rohin puts Brady and Praveen—two people who use AI every single day for a living—through a cold read. There is no prep or script.

What they couldn't answer is the whole point. Over the course of an hour, three daily AI users discover their stances on where their data goes, on the tools they default to, and their strategy with AI use.

The questions they had to answer:

• What did you use AI for in the last 24 hours? Be specific.
• On a scale of one to ten, how AI proficient are you?
• Have you ever thought about where your conversations and data actually go?
• If you lost access tomorrow, what would you actually lose?
• Have you taught the AIs you use about yourself? Could you take that to a different tool?
• Does your company have an AI strategy, or does it just have AI users?
• Do you think using AI is making you sharper or duller?
• A year from now, do you want to be more valuable because of AI—or more replaceable?

These questions around "intelligence independence" form the basis of The Ken's next live event on Saturday, 1 August, at the Bangalore International Centre.

Unlike prior waves of technology, the AI wave doesn't just impact all of us—be it as a country, a company, or a professional—it also extracts what is most valuable from us. Our knowledge. Our intelligence. It's the part of the AI equation we talk about the least. And we want to change that.

You can find the tickets here: https://the-ken.com/columns/zero-shot/the-best-time-to-think-about-intelligence-independence-was-four-years-ago-the-next-best-time-is-now/

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This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN.

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Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken.
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Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears.

But once the threshold was crossed, there was no looking back. For Shakun Batra — director of Kapoor & Sons, Gehraiyaan, and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu — the tipping point was a traffic jam shot that cost one-tenth of what they'd built on set. For Kobayashi, it was a car commercial that he hadn’t attempted before.

Shakun went on to build an AI division at his production house Jouska Films and collaborate with Google to make a small film using Veo 3. Kobayashi built Bait Society, an AI-native production company, from scratch.

One augmented an existing practice. One rebuilt entirely. We assumed these were diverging paths. But at the core, both are simply people who love using technology to make things they'd love to see.

In this episode of Zero Shot, we get into who gets credit when AI is in the pipeline, what happens to the crews and guilds being left behind, and why craft and voice still matter. We also go into the writing process in the AI age, the limits of the tools, and what it actually takes to make a feature film with AI today.

Both agree on one thing: production is getting easier. The bar for storytelling is going higher.

Tune in!

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This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN.

____

Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken.

Write to us at Zeroshot@the-ken.com. We are all ears!

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Additional material: 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2439708/

https://www.baitsociety.ai/kobayashi-reel

This podcast launched in September, and we’ve produced 14 episodes for you so far. We’ve covered a wide range of topics, and our conversations—between Praveen, Rohin, and Brady—only work because you’re willing to sit with the complexities we wade into. 

We know artificial intelligence will move fast in 2026, so we’ll keep asking the questions that matter in this AI hype cycle. We’re glad you’re coming along with us.

So, thank you, and we’ll be back next week.

As always, if you’d like to get in touch with any or all of our hosts, please drop us a note at zeroshot@the-ken.com. We respond to all messages.

The cover art of Zero Shot is generated by AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken.