ISTORIA sheds light on AI In PR
26-February-2026
Istoria, the second event lined up for Ikshana 2026 was organized by the students of Public Relations and Corporate Communications. It commenced with an intense discussion on ‘The Canvas of Co-Creation’. Talks were about the AI impact and how it can be used by PR professionals and corporates today.
The panellists were Nikhil Lodaya, COO of MSL, Vikram Kharvi CEO of Bloomingdale PR and Aakanksha Gupta CEO and Founder of The Other Circle. This discussion was moderated by Saheli Chatterji, Vice-President, PR and Marketing, 4WD Tech PR.
Aakanksha Gupta explained how AI helps in micro things like writing headlines for press releases but it also said that it has increased the work of fact-checking.
Vikram Kharvi said that AI is an amplifier rather than a threat. He also said, “We had 24 hours for a crisis to reply to the journalist but today with AI and everybody claiming to be a media professional, the response has to be immediate.”
Meanwhile Nikhil Lodaya believes that AI helps reach scale and alternate view on day-to-day things.
The second discussion, ‘AI Roulette’ was a gamified discussion set up, focused on how media professionals can develop skills to sustain in the AI world.
The panellists were Radhika Suchday, Vice President of Ogilvy, Premal Mandavia, associate Team Lead and Saheli Chatterjee. It was moderated by Anish Shaw, Senior Account Executive at Burson Genesis.
Radhika Suchday explained how cultural context and softer skills are very important in the age of AI.
Premal Mandavia advised students to delve into quality stuff. On the other hand, Saheli Chatterjee said, “AI reads data, instincts read nuance.”
The students had also organised a quick PR game by giving a hypothetical scenario and asked their peers about the possible solution. Pear Goyal from the MCDM course bagged the first price and Sarath K.B from FTV secured the second position.
The students also engaged the audience with the ‘AI or Real’ game.
The event concluded with a keynote address by Glen Charles D’Souza, Managing Director at MSL who gave case studies of different PR campaigns, and explained how AI is impacting content and creativity.
Students were enriched by the knowledge of how they could equip themselves in the evolving age of technology and AI by the industry experts.
26th February, 2026
by Saloni Nande