CHENNAI: The second day of the ThinkEdu Conclave, hosted by The New Indian Express at ITC Grand Chola, shifted gears from sharp conversations on education, finance and entrepreneurship to an exploration of creativity in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) for the discussion titled ‘AI in Arts: Why Humanity Will Survive' headlined by Indian pianist and educator Anil Srinivasan.
Anil opened his talk with music, riffing off Gen Z favourite, Sai Abhyankar’s 'Oorum Blood' and an old-town classic 'Kanmani Anbodu'.
Anil demonstrated how a few notes could trigger instant recognition across generations, arguing that human pattern recognition is instinctive and faster than AI. “The ability to feel and the ability to process feeling is something that AI does not have, is unlikely to have. We are not anywhere close to having Artificial Intelligence replicate the human experience,” he said.
As an educator, drawing from his course of Music and Data Science, he explained how music itself is built on pattern matching and pattern sequencing. AI, he noted, can mimic patterns but cannot read a room or respond emotionally in real time. “AI is not here to replace you. You need to be able to use it,” he said. “Rather than look at AI as competition, please look at AI as collaboration,” he added.
Moving into the idea of 'AI and beyond', the pianist spoke about creativity as a human constant. “Artistic creativity is not just about performing arts. It is about how I can improve my ability to use pattern, use sequence, use stimulus and recraft my environment,” he said.
Even innovations like the ‘ethical AI singer’, where artists license AI versions of their own voices, demonstrate that technology can extend human agency rather than erase it. He also cited Indian problem-solving AI tools such as PadhAI, which supports last-mile learning, and Adalat AI, designed to ease case backlogs in courts. “This is India and we are building for Bharat,” he said, underscoring how technology guided by human intent can address real societal challenges.
“Whether you like it or not, you need to start becoming interdisciplinary,” he told students, urging them to move beyond rigid academic silos. Universities, he said, must evolve into knowledge hubs, collaborating with industry and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Experiential learning, problem-solving and modular education must define the future. He added, “Education is not about saying what degree shall I earn. The question is: what problem do you want to solve?”
He ended with a reminder about the importance of pauses in a hyper-digital world. “You also need to spend half an hour every day doing nothing… allow yourself a digital detox,” he said, advocating rest, restore and retool, as the white space that fuels creativity.
As the applause settled, he concluded, “Sculpting creativity is where the future of humankind is.”