- GLS University’s ‘Decoded with Chandni Kapadia’ opens a window into careers where imagination meets technology
- From animation and gaming to VFX, filmmaking and immersive storytelling, creative industries are rewriting career possibilities
- Dr Magali McDuffie puts humility, deep listening and collaboration at the heart of meaningful storytelling
- AI may transform creative tools—but originality, curiosity, critical thinking and human connection remain irreplaceable
- For the next generation, every experience becomes a building block in a career with no shortcuts
NE EDUTAINMENT BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, SEPT 9
In a world where artificial intelligence can generate an image in seconds, a film in minutes and a story at the click of a button, perhaps the most valuable creative skill is something technology still cannot manufacture—truly listening to another human being. That powerful idea emerged at GLS University during an engaging edition of its exclusive conversation series ‘Decoded with Chandni Kapadia’, featuring internationally acclaimed filmmaker, educator, researcher and academic leader Dr Magali McDuffie.
Hosted by Chandni Kapadia, Executive Director, GLS University, the session ventured far beyond the conventional question of “What career should I choose?” It explored a more fundamental question: What kind of person must I become to thrive in a creative career that is changing faster than ever?
The conversation travelled through animation, gaming, filmmaking, VFX, immersive storytelling and AI-driven content creation, but its central message was strikingly human. Technology can provide tools; meaningful creativity demands curiosity, communication, collaboration, courage and a willingness to remain a learner.
The creative revolution is not just about technology
For students entering creative industries, technical proficiency is increasingly only the starting point. Dr McDuffie drew upon her own journey across filmmaking, research and education to underline the importance of understanding people, asking questions, absorbing different perspectives and transforming experiences into compelling narratives.
The most memorable part of the conversation came when she reflected on her extensive work with Aboriginal communities and the responsibility involved in telling stories that belong to others.
“If we put ourselves in a position of humility, where we say, ‘We don’t know everything,’ we can receive a lot of knowledge. Deep listening means understanding that we are not always the experts and being open to learning from others. When we take the time to listen, we can learn, develop new ideas and concepts, and then work together to create something meaningful. You have to let go of thinking, ‘This is my film’ and instead think, ‘This is our film.’ It is through listening, learning and collaboration that the creative process becomes much more powerful.”
It was a lesson that transcended filmmaking: great stories are rarely created in isolation; they emerge when people make room for other voices.
From classroom learning to real-world creation
The discussion also examined what students need beyond academic qualifications to build sustainable creative careers.
Dr McDuffie highlighted the importance of real-world exposure, industry feedback, collaboration, storytelling and hands-on experience. A successful creative career, she suggested, is not built through one breakthrough moment but through accumulated experiences—each project, mistake, collaboration and piece of feedback adding another layer to the creator.
For students, that means replacing the search for instant success with a willingness to experiment, create, receive criticism and begin again.
AI enters the creative studio
Artificial Intelligence inevitably became part of the conversation, but not as a simplistic battle between humans and machines.
The discussion explored AI as an enabling technology capable of expanding creative possibilities and changing how content is conceived, produced and distributed. Yet the emergence of increasingly powerful tools also makes human qualities more valuable, not less.
Originality, critical thinking, storytelling instinct, empathy, creative judgment and the ability to make meaningful connections remain central to determining whether technology produces something merely impressive—or something genuinely memorable.
The question for tomorrow’s creative professional, therefore, may not be “Can AI do this?” but rather “What can I imagine, question or communicate that gives the technology a meaningful direction?”
The power of saying ‘I don’t know’
Perhaps the most counterintuitive lesson of the session was the value of humility.
In a culture that often rewards confidence and instant answers, Dr McDuffie’s emphasis on admitting that “We don’t know everything” offered students a different model of creative growth. Listening becomes a form of research; collaboration becomes a form of discovery; and unfamiliar perspectives become raw material for new ideas.
Her experience with Aboriginal communities demonstrated how responsible storytelling requires creators to relinquish the assumption that they automatically understand the story they are attempting to tell.
That philosophy has relevance far beyond cinema. Whether creating a game, designing an animation, developing an advertisement or producing an AI-assisted film, curiosity begins where certainty ends.
No shortcuts to a meaningful creative career
The session ultimately left students with a deceptively simple message: there are no shortcuts to meaningful growth.
Careers in the creative economy may appear glamorous from the outside, but behind every successful creator lies a trail of experiments, collaborations, failures, revisions and lessons. Every experience can become part of the creative vocabulary.
Through ‘Decoded with Chandni Kapadia’, GLS University is creating a platform where students can encounter practitioners who have not merely studied their fields but lived, questioned and reshaped them.
And perhaps that is what made the conversation with Dr McDuffie particularly relevant for an AI-powered age. The future of creativity will certainly be technological—but it will also be deeply human.
Because when machines become better at generating answers, the creators who stand apart may be those who know which questions to ask, whose voices to hear and which stories are worth telling.
