Currently, the boom in Artificial Intelligence has been viewed with mounting dread or embraced warmly as a technological revolution in image-making. Khalid Mohamed interviews Prateek Arora, a prominent AI influencer, especially with his constantly tracked Instagram posts on the future shocks of a dystopian, cyberpunk world.

In a world where Artificial Intelligence, digital storytelling, and futuristic aesthetics are reshaping visual culture, conversations like this one with Prateek Arora help de-code how AI art, cyberpunk imagination, and rapidly emerging creative technologies are influencing cinema, design, and the future of content creation in India. With platforms like Instagram and AI video tools shifting how artists work and share, this dialogue becomes essential to understanding the balance between innovation, ethics, and the irreplaceable human imagination at the core of meaningful creativity.  

Good, bad and scary: the verdict on the rapidly rising Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently under debate between the purists and the savants of technological advancement.

Ignorance could have been feasible at one point. But AI is now an everyday presence in our lives, be it on computer screens and smartphones, especially with their excessive scattershot video reels. Ad filmmakers I have talked to have frankly stated that the boom is no bubble, it’s here to stay, evolving to a level beyond gratuitous predictions.

AI has been embraced by the creators of feature films, globally and pan-Asian, not to omit artists on their morphed canvases. Incidentally, over two decades ago, the late master artist Akbar Padamsee had exhibited a show of computer-aided digital art, emphasising that paints and brushes will no longer be sufficient in the near future.

Incidentally, AI has seen a steady rise circa 2018, accelerating into the 2020s. Personally, I was quite dumbfounded by the images of a futuristic India, fusing a dystopian atmosphere with neo-visuals of cyborgs, robots, fragments of reassuring dreams and beyond disturbing nightmares.

Consequently, I became fixated on checking out the Instagram AI posts of Prateek Arora with a following of close to 63 thousand followers and counting. Besides, Arora has been named among India’s 100 Most Influential People in AI.

His series of a fictional township Rocketganj, inhabited with recognisably humans and yet striking you as extra-terrestrials from another time and space, indicate that AI and his own imagination have to be coalesced. The human and the AI cannot be divorced from each other, in Arora’s swings between the binaries.

Curious to know more about the image maker and antecedents of the 35-year-old Prateek Arora, I requested him for an email conversation which did take some doing. Immersed in 24x7 work life, after a fortnight or so, we could engage in a conversation. Excerpts:

ROOTS, MOVEMENT AND IDENTITY

You’ve been quite restless, hopping between your birthplace Delhi, other towns and settling now in Mumbai. How strong have your parents’ influences been in your choice of an ever-changing technology career?

They have defined my sensibilities significantly. My father, Ramesh, trained as an engineer and then did his MBA, working primarily in the automotive sector, and currently works in Electric Vehicles. My mother, Madhu, has worked all her life in a public sector telecommunications company.

Because of them, while growing up I was exposed to myriad aspects of Delhi -- the brutalist architecture of Pragati Maidan and its Hall of Nations, the futuristic concept cars that I saw every time my dad took me to the Auto Expo, the dense office blocks of Nehru Place, and the juxtaposition of all of this with the historical parts of Delhi, especially the Purana Qila on Mathura Road. I see echoes of all of this in my work now. We always owe more to our parents than we realise.

Which part of the sprawling and extremely diverse part of Delhi did you live in?

We lived in East Delhi in a neighbourhood called Patparganj -- hence Rocketganj is called what it is and has the texture it does. For example, Patparganj has endless rows of concrete housing blocks, and that is very much a part of Rocketganj too - and then moved to Noida. I’m a very restless person, that’s maybe why I liked Mumbai right away. Delhi can sometimes be too laidback.

But Mumbai can be excessively demanding and tough to adapt to.

Mumbai was immediately my speed but I’ve also realised Mumbai can be exhausting, maybe even brutal: to survive here one has to become a little detached. There’s just too much going on in Mumbai, and not all of it is good. It can erode your empathy if you let it. Gratifyingly, Mumbai people don’t let it. There is a sense of “We are all in this together” here.

Can you explain why you have had to town-hop?

To find my niche and a space where I could properly become a creator, I guess.
After studying at Delhi University, I worked in advertising for about a year, moved to Pune to study at the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, after which I started working at MTV in Mumbai.

In between I was also in Bengaluru at Graphic India, a comics and animation studio. Ten years and lots of tough lessons later I’m starting to finally realise there is no perfect time or place to create, you have to work with what you have.

A NEW CREATIVE ORDER

AI is largely viewed with dread... since it is already diminishing employment and the purity of visuals - of artifice over realism? What's your take on this?

Every time there’s a new creative technology, there has been an upheaval, a disruption. The traditional forms of today were the challengers of their time. Digital photography, video, VFX and electronic music weren’t embraced right away. The same story applies to AI art. Like others before it, it is also a creative technology which challenges established notions of artistic process and authorship.

Understandably, there are lots of reactions and concerns, and a fair bit of paranoia. Some of the concerns are valid, especially those hinged on how AI may affect creative careers in the short term. For example as more films start being generated rather than shot, certain departments will be adversely affected, some more so than others.

So it’s important to look out for one other during this period of transition. With upskilling and reskilling we can hope to offset some of the disruptive effects, since there are also many new roles emerging in AI creative workflows which may map well to existing skill sets. The biggest challenge will be for the relatively unorganised sections, such as the light crews, and of our production ecosystem. The industry has to come together to help everyone make this transition.

Yet this period of change – of constructed images - in the creative industry will be larger and more valuable. Snag is that some of the marketing around AI has been driven by an ethos of, “Let’s replace humans completely.” I don’t agree with that at all. Humans have to be at the heart of whatever the tools or technologies might be.

You have spoken of Jurassic Park as one of your prime influences.... have you researched the vintage films of Bombay which used very rudimentary camera tricks to create fairy tales like Hatim Tai, desi versions of Superman, rocket stories and mythological with dancing snakes?

I am somewhat familiar with Hatim Tai and have seen clips of the desi Supermen online, but most of all I remember Mr. India. It’s one of my all-time favourite films and I’ve seen it several times.

The use of green screens in Bollywood cinema has been terrible especially in action movies...and news is that AI is already being used on actors - their bodies may be of someone else's soldered to their faces.

I don’t think any creative technology is all good or all bad. Above all, technology should be used in service of the story and the characters, and not just as a gimmick.

There may have been the overuse of greenscreen at times, but in others it has also helped open up the canvas to allow filmmakers to stage more visually ambitious scenes. Sci-fi, and superhero movies all use a combination of physical sets and green screen to create highly immersive sequences which elevate the theatrical experience. For example, the epic finale of Avengers Endgame.

As for the use of AI-face swap technology, there must be informed consent -- of the performer whose face is being used, and the performer whose body is being used. There is a power dynamic which will have to be addressed. In such a hybridised scenario, who is the “performer”?

The more common scenario that is likely to emerge is that of fully generated characters created by using AI tools, including those of popular figures. For instance, OpenAI‘s Sora AI video tool has a Cameo feature that allows you to add your own face to an AI video.

THE WORK, THE RESPONSE AND WHAT'S NEXT

Have you had a look at what is claimed to be the first AI feature film in India – Vivek Anchalia’s romantic musical Naisha in Hindi? In this context, what's your opinion on the two VFX-enhanced Baahubali films which became a rage? 

Haven’t seen that yet, but have seen the Baahubali films.

They were instrumental in expanding the canvas of Indian mainstream cinema and their success seems to have influenced many films since. It feels as if the collective ambition of our film industries was raised after Baahubali.

Besides cinema and visual arts, which books, paintings, personalities, have impacted you in arriving at the concept of Futuristic India, blending cyberpunk and the unexpectedly absurd elements in your creations?

Outside of cinema and visual arts, the internet has probably had the biggest influence on my work, in terms of themes and aesthetics, but also how I think about distributing and exhibiting it.

The chaotic energy and inherent absurdity of experiencing life on the internet is a constant source of stimulation. “Making sense of things” is something that constantly drives my desire to create, and the internet is constantly pushing us to make sense of things.

So far, Rocketganj has been your most impressive work, fusing the grungy and the slick. Is the setting of Rocketganj inspired by any particular city? To me, it seems to be the underprivileged sections of Delhi.

Thank you! Rocketganj is inspired by East Delhi, and also a little bit by Jamshedpur, where my wife Prachi is originally from.

Rocketganj is envisioned as a fictional ‘company town’ where the lives of almost everyone there is connected to the core industrial activity of rocket making.

Do you use human models and real locations and then build on them?

Not very much currently in terms of human models, but I’d like to work with actors, musicians and performers from other disciplines to create a more robust and collaborative way of creating with AI tools. In terms of locations-- most of my work is set in places directly inspired by Indian cities - primarily Delhi and Mumbai.

Images of Ek Alien Ki Maut, a robot lighting a man's cigarette, and group photographs in astronaut costumes have been striking and state several things, which I guess you leave to the viewer in consonance with John Berger's theory of Ways of Seeing. Or am I completely off the mark?

I remember John Berger’s book, having read it many years ago, but it’s not a conscious reference. I do read frequently about culture, art, aesthetics on the internet though, and there are always some insightful video essays about these topics on YouTube too. 

On trying Meta AI on my iPhone, I end up with pretty and vapid visuals....there seems to be some policy of honouring "community standards".

I haven’t used Meta AI yet, so I don’t think I can comment on this! I currently primarily use Google’s Nano Banana Pro and Veo 3.1, Open AI’s Sora 2, and Midjourney.

Your works have been exhibited at prestigious exhibitions and on platforms in India and abroad. What has been your learning experience from the feedback?

The reaction has been rewarding. I am an outsider in the art world and although there’s an opinion that AI has no place in this world, I’ve also met many people who have looked at my work with an open mind. Devika Daulet-Singh, who runs Photoink, has been a mentor for me while navigating this world. She’s the one who first brought my work into the gallery context in early 2023 when my work was exhibited at Delhi’s India Art Fair.

Focusing on the work itself has yielded the best results, rather than worrying about how it will be received or where it will be exhibited. Which is easier said than done, especially since my primary medium has always been digital work posted online, where the feedback loop is immediate, constant and inescapable.
On the internet your work is never hidden, there’s a lot of content online competing for attention, not that I feel like I am competing with anyone specific.

The negative aspect is that it can get you hooked on short-term algorithmic validation. Occasionally I feel as if it has happened to me too. I’m trying to figure out the balance right now by trying to understand Instagram, and IG Reels as a creative medium.

Have your dreams in your sleep altered drastically ever since you became hooked on AI?

Definitely. They are more vivid than ever before. There are details that I remember from my dreams that I sometimes think of adding to my work.

How do you monetize your AI visuals, do you have to stick to an alternative profession?

Some of my work has been acquired by individuals and institutions, for instance the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art has acquired a full edition of Rocketganj prints. Apart from that, I recently collaborated with Ritviz (the electronica pop musician from Pune) and created the cover art for his new album Kurta Saree. I’ve also collaborated with brands when the brief has been compelling and the team on the other end trusts my instincts.

More indirectly, posting my work on Instagram has led to conversations, one of which has led me to writing a feature film which we hope we can shoot next year. Instagram is also how Devika and the team at Photoink discovered my work.

I also have a day job at content studio BANG BANG, where I’m leading development on a slate of feature films and streaming series. Since I’m a workaholic, I’m onto multiple things. In the next phase of my life, I hope to coalesce all of my explorations into an overarching structure.

Would your feature film find exposure on OTT or YouTube?

I’m still working on my first feature. And there’s also been some interest from a studio to develop one of my stories as a streaming/OTT series. I’m in the early stages of the conversation. As AI video capabilities improve, I wish to create longer clips.

Tapping YouTube as a destination for those experiments is definitely part of the plan.

Do you hire specialists in any categories for your team?

For my AI work I mostly operate solo but have collaborated with artist friends on some commissioned projects in the past. Once I scale up my video output, I may look towards building a team.

Is Instagram an apt media to post your work...since they're open to being imitated or even replicated with minor changes?

That is the general nature of the internet. A rapid iteration and building upon of work. I mostly don’t have a problem with that but there are always those who approach this dynamic with bad faith.

I do often see work with strong resemblances to mine, and to be perfectly honest sometimes that has felt a little weird. But mostly I’m happy that a wave I started has caught on and it’s bringing more attention to the genres of science fiction and weird horror in India, which was one of the major motivations behind my decision to start publishing work online.

I also think it’s a creative dead-end to be territorial about ‘style’, since it is so fluid and always changing. Even if someone is trying to imitate, if they stick with it long enough eventually they find their own unique path with it.

The saying goes that AI will take over the world and how we deal with the smallest aspects of daily life...would you go with that?

It does currently seem like AI is making it into various parts of our life, and in some cases it may even feel like it’s being pushed on us. There’s a lot of attention and capital going towards AI since it’s a relatively new industry.
But given enough time everyone will figure out what parts of their life they want to use AI in, and where they don’t. Everyone will define where the line is for them, as it should be.

What's your normal 24x7 day like?

Not always very structured and generally varying from day to day, but I generally like to start my day at either the gym or at a coffee shop, this is my ‘quiet time’. Afternoons are mostly spent on meetings, zoom interactions and on writing. I’m most productive late at night, which is the only time Mumbai is silent. It’s the ideal time to do deep work.