Zero Shot

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Join Brady Ng, Praveen Gopal Krishnan, and Rohin Dharmakumar of The Ken as they discuss the big ideas in artificial intelligence. You’ll get the macro view, explore their experiments in practical applications, go deeper than the news coverage you’ve seen, and hear about the implications of the latest developments. Nothing is off the table.

PRED 6 D.

Zero Shot Live: Who will survive Agentic AI in India?

Today is not regular programming for Zero Shot. We present to you a glimpse of our first live event, which we dramatically titled “The Great Unbundling”. It had a simple premise: agentic AI is coming. Soon. Hard. Fast. For India's consumer internet companies. Who will survive it? We posed this question to Muralikrishnan B, former President of Xiaomi India; Amod Malviya, co-founder of Udaan and former CTO of Flipkart; Anant Choubey, co-founder of Capillary; and Thomas Fenn, co-founder of Mahabelly and joint secretary of the National Restaurant Association of India. This was The Ken's fifth live event, and it was sold out. A big thank you to all of you who were there. We are doing a lot more events this year and if you want to be there next time, keep an eye on our website. Tune in. ____ 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! ___ Recommended Reading: The Great Unbundling

32 min
8. 4.

Kuku used AI to crack micro dramas. It is now coming for Bollywood

"We have 353 billion data points on user behaviour. Why wouldn't I use them to make a better story and get into newer businesses within content?" That's Kunj Sanghvi, the vice president and head of content at Kuku, explaining their next big bet on theatrical films. Kuku has seen 10 million paid subscribers and 350 million downloads so far. This is precious data of “micro segments”, people’s consumption behaviour, preferences, sentiments and indulgences. Kuku says this is the bedrock of what they do: “turning creativity into a science”. AI has been the central to how they achieved this with audio and microdramas. It is also key to what they did with their first full-length feature film, which is ready for release on May 8. In this episode of Zero Shot, Kunj walks us through how Kuku uses AI in production. It starts off with their “proprietary content genome” that ingests millions of data points, scores incoming story pitches, flags weak cliffhangers, predicts which micro-segment an idea will resonate with, and tells you what to fix before a single frame is shot. And come production, AI is helping create scale, making possible complex shots that would require budgets, extras, and massive resources. The result? A film called Indian Institute of Zombies, made at a fraction of regular film budgets. "The audience going to cinemas wants spectacle," says Kunj. "AI lets you cheat that. You can show scale without it feeling like a low-cost production." Tune in. ____ 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! ____ Recommended Reading: ‘Indian Institute of Zombies’ Marks Kuku’s Big-Screen Debut With Campus Horror Comedy MS Dhoni Invests in AI-driven Storytelling Platform Kuku

1 h 1 min
31. 3.

Salary, Bonus, Equity… Tokens?

Your next job offer might just come with a "token budget" line item. The idea has been gaining steam in Silicon Valley. In February, a VC named Tomasz Tunguz dropped a blog post arguing that inference costs are becoming the fourth pillar of engineering compensation alongside salary, bonus, and equity. Here is the math: the 75th percentile software engineer in the US draws $375k. Add $100k in inference costs and you're at $475k. That's 21% in tokens. A month later, Jensen Huang took this up a notch. The Nvidia CEO said he'd be alarmed if a $500k engineer wasn't burning through at least $250k worth of tokens. What does this actually mean if you're running an AI startup today? As agents go mainstream and the competition heats up, how do you stay ahead? How is the token bill allotted and negotiated? Akash Anand, CEO of Clueso, a Y Combinator-backed startup turning raw screen recordings into polished product videos, joins Zero Shot to break down his real token math. Spoiler: more tokens does not simply equal more productivity. Tune in! ___ 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! ____ Additional Resources How AI is making and remaking the products that we build More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their A.I. Use. Jensen Huang says he would be 'deeply alarmed' if his $500,000 engineer did not consume at least $250,000 of tokens

1 h 4 min
24. 3. • IBA THE KEN PREMIUM

The AI agent era has started in China. It looks different from anywhere else

Ever wondered what happens when AI agents are adopted at scale? Look no further than China. Over the last two months, people — yes, ordinary citizens — have been installing OpenClaw on their devices. Local governments are incentivising OpenClaw projects. Grandparents are lining up to get the software installed. And a cottage industry of "influencers" is telling people how to optimise their agent usage. It's a social and cultural moment as much as a technological one. How did China get here? To answer that question, we have Kevin Xu on this episode of Zero Shot. Kevin is the founder of Interconnected Capital, a global technology hedge fund, and a widely-read writer at the intersection of technology and geopolitics. His career is seemingly divergent: former White House press staffer, head of GitHub's international expansion, and an investor in AI startups. But it is this layered perspective — of a tech analyst, writer, fund manager, and operator all rolled into one — that can truly unpack what is happening in China. Tune in!___ 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!____ Additional Resources Interconnected | Chinese open source: A definitive history ( https://interconnected.blog/chinese-open-source-a-definitive-history/ ) Hustlers are cashing in on China’s OpenClaw AI craze ( https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/11/1134179/china-openclaw-gold-rush/ ) In China, a rush to "raise lobsters" quickly leads to second thoughts ( https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/china-openclaw-ai-agent-frenzy-rcna263636 ) OpenClaw, government support fuel rise of 1-person companies in China ( https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347416/openclaw-government-support-fuels-rise-one-person-companies-china ) "Claw-powered" one-person companies become hot topic at China's "two sessions" ( https://english.news.cn/20260310/e067ec99ee5d49a69d958866fb930069/c.html ) Explore Intermission ( https://the-ken.com/intermission/the-business-of-colour-asian-paints/ )

1 h 1 min
18. 3. • IBA THE KEN PREMIUM

India’s biggest B2B marketplace takes OpenAI to court

Say you want a chunk of plywood. Or a passenger lift. Or a power cable. Or a corrugated packaging box. Chances are you will find yourself on IndiaMART, the country’s largest B2B marketplace connecting buyers with suppliers. With 60% of market share and a 12,000 crore market cap, the company essentially commands this space. Say you want a chunk of plywood. Or a passenger lift. Or a power cable. Or a corrugated packaging box. Chances are you will find yourself on IndiaMART, the country’s largest B2B marketplace connecting buyers with suppliers. With 60% of market share and a 12,000 crore market cap, the company essentially commands this space. There is one major problem though: ChatGPT. In December, IndiaMART filed a petition against OpenAI in the Calcutta High Court for “selective discrimination” at the hands of the company, saying that its LLM “specifically and consciously” excludes it from its results while servicing other e-commerce platforms. In a hearing, the court said the exclusion seems to have occurred “without any logic”. The case is ongoing. As our host Praveen Gopal Krishnan says, the “specifics of the case are far less interesting” than the proverbial can it seems to have kicked down the road. The case asks some crucial second, third, and fourth order questions about AI, competition, and who gets to win in this new market. To answer all of those questions and give us a picture of the regulatory landscape of India, we have Samir R Gandhi on this episode. Samir heads Axiom5, a boutique law firm specialising in competition law. He has spent over two decades at various law firms, and has had a ringside view of the development of competition law in India from the time of its enactment.He says the case gives him a sense of “deja vu” because it is fundamentally about an old incumbent being challenged by a disrupter. But the questions posed by AI systems — “part morality, part philosophical, part business model, part geopolitics” — will have wide-ranging implications for the market from a legal standpoint. Tune in! This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Cymasonic Productions.____ 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!____ Recommended Reading: Ghosted by the bot: Why IndiaMART is desperate to be visible on ChatGPT ( https://www.livemint.com/companies/indiamart-v-openai-the-future-of-b2b-discovery-11773140694232.html ) CCI Rejects Allegations of Anti-Competitive Conduct against Uber and Ola ( https://www.azbpartners.com/bank/cci-rejects-allegations-of-anti-competitive-conduct-against-uber-and-ola/ )Accio ( https://www.accio.com/about-us ) Amazon V. Perplexity: Welcome To The Battle For The Future Of Commerce ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2025/11/05/amazon-vs-perplexity-welcome-to-the-battle-for-the-future-of-commerce/ )

53 min
11. 3. • IBA THE KEN PREMIUM

AI and the end of SaaS 'playbooks'

“We were so close to the finish line and boom ‘SaaS is dead’. We are restarting…. There is one more round to run.” That’s an honest admission from Avinash Raghava, the founding volunteer and CEO of the pay-it-forward community SaaSBoomi. As someone who has spent years building networks and communities — at Nasscom, Accel, and Together Fund previously — Avinash has a full view of the inflection point that founders are at. They are having to reinvent themselves, change business models and pivot entirely to become AI-native. The idea is to disrupt their own models before the market does. SaaSBoomi is undergoing its own transformation. It is now AIBoomi, with the primary focus of helping founders navigate the new world where old SaaS playbooks are irrelevant. Can there be a new playbook? How does one write it? How does one learn, grow, and create a community along the way? Avinash takes on all of these questions in this episode. The result is a conversation that captures and dissects the crossroads that SaaS is currently at. Tune in! ____ 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!____ Recommended Reading: Which Software Companies Will Survive the SaaSpocalypse ( https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2026-02-19/the-saaspocalypse-how-ai-fears-have-damaged-software-stocks ) The Three-Body Problem (novel) ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel) ) Dark forest hypothesis ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis ) https://annual.aiboomi.org/ ( https://annual.aiboomi.org/ ) Over 100 Indian AI startup founders moving to US for funds and talent ( https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/over-100-indian-ai-startup-founders-moving-to-us-for-funds-and-talent/articleshow/127642560.cms?from=mdr ) Voice AI has gone from whisper to commotion. Can the market get any louder? ( https://the-ken.com/story/voice-ai-has-gone-from-whisper-to-commotion-can-the-market-get-any-louder/ )

1 h 1 min
4. 3. • IBA THE KEN PREMIUM

Engineers don’t want AI tool contracts. At least the ones they are caught in

As enterprises make sure their employees use AI, integrate it into their workflows, track productivity, and highlight AI usage in their investor calls, a new kind of tension is emerging within organisations. Engineers are simply not happy with the tools they have been assigned. They want flexibility and deals with companies that make tools that actually work for them. Some are even ready to go back to no tools. Verifying AI-generated code, they say, is an extra layer that is only burdening them. Meanwhile, India’s enterprise AI ecosystem is thriving. The country has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets for tech giant Microsoft’s AI programmer Github Copilot. In December, the company had announced that more than 200,000 Copilot licences would be deployed across TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant. At the recent AI summit, OpenAI and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) agreed on rolling out Enterprise ChatGPT internally. Anthropic tied up with Infosys to deploy Claude models and AI agents into enterprise workflows. Mrunmayee Kulkarni, The Ken’s AI reporter, spoke to dozens of employees and tech leaders to get to the heart of the tension. She joins us today to dissect it along with Ashwin Sekhar, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Incred. In fact, Ashwin commented on Mrunmayee’s story. His interesting take made us reach out to him and start a conversation. And now, he finds himself on the podcast. We’d love to hear all of your takes, opinions, and thoughts. Please write to us at zeroshot@the-ken.com * 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. Additional Reading: Engineers gag as Amazon, TCS, and Cognizant ram ‘mandatory AI’ into everyday work ( https://the-ken.com/story/engineers-gag-as-amazon-tcs-and-cognizant-ram-mandatory-ai-into-everyday-work/ ) Anthropic goes to war ( https://the-ken.com/columns/zero-shot/anthropic-goes-to-war/ ) Our agreement with the Department of War ( https://openai.com/index/our-agreement-with-the-department-of-war/ ) Everyone in Seattle Hates AI ( https://jonready.com/blog/posts/everyone-in-seattle-hates-ai.html )

56 min
25. 2. • IBA THE KEN PREMIUM

A tale of two AI summits: Beyond the stolen robot dog

Here’s a fresh take on the India AI Impact Summit that took place last week in New Delhi: it was two events stitched together, happening at the same time. There was the expo, where companies and nations showcased their products and services to 250,000 visitors. And then there was a conference where the geopolitical effects of AI were front and centre. Inderpal Singh, one of The Ken’s reporters, was on site to find out where the action was. Hear his firsthand account about what really mattered at the summit, what India’s builders were up to, and how it felt to be at what’s called the largest AI-themed gathering ever. Then, hosts Praveen Gopal Krishnan and Brady Ng discuss the ramifications of the summit and the way India is positioned—as an AI middle power, or something else? Plus, one country’s delegates were noticeably absent, and the two hosts have opposite takes on what that means. Tune in for all that and more. If you were at the India AI Impact Summit, tell us about it at zeroshot@the-ken.com ( zeroshot@the-ken.com ) * 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. Additional Reading: Indian university faces backlash for claiming Chinese robodog as own at AI summit ( https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge8nd5ve00o ) AI impact summit layout ( https://www.impactexpo.indiaai.gov.in/venue-layout-map ) New Delhi declaration ( https://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/40809 ) At A.I. Summit, India Tries to Find a Way Between the U.S. and China ( https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/world/asia/ai-summit-india-foreign-policy.html )

48 min

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Join Brady Ng, Praveen Gopal Krishnan, and Rohin Dharmakumar of The Ken as they discuss the big ideas in artificial intelligence. You’ll get the macro view, explore their experiments in practical applications, go deeper than the news coverage you’ve seen, and hear about the implications of the latest developments. Nothing is off the table.