Mumbai, April 2026 — The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter, in collaboration with Google, hosted an engaging edition of IAA Conversations, centred on the theme “Frontier AI: Transforming Society, Driving Business” on 16^th April 2026. The session convened industry leaders, marketers, and professionals for a forward-looking dialogue on how artificial intelligence is reshaping both business and society.

The evening commenced with an opening address by Abhishek Karnani, President of IAA India Chapter, who set the tone for the session by emphasizing the growing relevance of AI in driving industry transformation and the importance of collaborative learning platforms such as IAA Conversations.

Abhishek Karnani, President, IAA India Chapter

The session featured distinguished speakers Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind, and Mansi Khanna, Director – Ads, Brand & Reputation Marketing at Google India and Managing Committee Member, IAA.

Dr. Gupta presented a compelling perspective on the evolution of AI, emphasizing its far-reaching impact across industries and geographies. He highlighted that AI is rapidly becoming a foundational driver of innovation, unlocking opportunities to build scalable solutions that can benefit billions of people worldwide, while also addressing complex, real-world challenges. He further underscored the importance of responsible and inclusive development as AI continues to transform the global landscape.

Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director, Google DeepMind

Gupta noted that AI is rapidly moving beyond research environments into large-scale deployment across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, and enterprise solutions. He emphasised that the next phase of AI will be driven by multimodal and context-aware systems designed to deliver real-world impact at scale.

Focusing on India, Gupta said the country is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the global AI ecosystem, given its strong talent base, digital infrastructure, and complex multilingual landscape. He pointed out that India can lead in building inclusive and scalable AI solutions, particularly across Indic languages.

Bringing a marketing-focused lens to the discussion, Mansi Khanna outlined how AI is redefining modern marketing practices. She emphasized that the transition to becoming an AI-first organization begins with being people-first—by setting clear strategic direction, empowering teams with the right tools and capabilities, and fostering a culture that encourages experimentation and scale. Drawing from Google’s approach, she illustrated how AI is being leveraged across the marketing value chain, from business insights and creative production to execution and measurement.

Mansi Khanna, Director – Ads, Brand & Reputation Marketing, Google India

In a post-event exchange at IAA Conversations, Khanna further reinforced this shift, noting that AI is no longer just a “use case” but is increasingly becoming the marketing workflow itself—deeply embedded in how teams think, create, and deliver impact.

The session sparked meaningful conversations around the synergy between human ingenuity and machine intelligence, encouraging attendees to rethink how AI can be harnessed to drive innovation, creativity, and sustainable business growth.

The IAA Conversations x Google session concluded with a strong sense of optimism and clarity, leaving participants better equipped to navigate and shape the future of an AI-driven world.

About IAA

The International Advertising Association is the world’s only globally-focused integrated advertising trade association with membership representing Advertising agencies and the Media. The IAA comprises Corporate Members, Organizational Members, Educational Affiliates, as well as 56 Chapters with individual members and young professionals from 76 countries including the top 10 economies in the world. IAA is over 80 years’ old and is headquartered in New York.

Membership to the Indian Chapter of IAA is by invitation only and IAA has very senior marketing, advertising and media professionals as it members.  IAA in India is seen as the most active chapter by IAA Global. IAA India is well-recognized for some of its marquee events like the IAA Leadership Awards, IAA Olive Crown Awards, IndIAA Awards, IAA Voice of Change, IAA Debates, IAA Conversations, IAA Young Turks Forum and an array of IAA Knowledge Seminars, Webinars, Workshops, Conclaves etc.

For more information visit www.iaaindiachapter.org or email secretariat@iaaindiachapter.org