'AI Can't Make Bad Design Better'

"We need creatives who can speak both visual and business, who know how to wield data without being enslaved by it," says Geet Nazir, managing director, Landor India, while speaking on the impact of new technologies on advertising.

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India is among the WPP company's top three markets and it is investing heavily in cross-skilling and exposure. She spoke to Alokananda Chakraborty about how new tools could radically cut production time, auto-generate UI flows, even test creative concepts in minutes. Edited excerpts:

What is the biggest challenge from a designer's perspective in working with emerging digital technology?

The hardest part isn't the pace of tech—it's the temptation to chase it without a filter. Every week there's a new platform, a new way to 'go immersive'. But design is not about jumping onto the next thing. The real challenge is ensuring tech is in service of the brand, not the other way around. We obsess over a brand's center of gravity—its purpose, its personality—and build flexible, versatile design systems that can thrive across formats without fracturing. In an ever-busy world where 'new' is redefined daily, connection trumps consistency—and the job to be done isn't about designing within rigid templates; it's about creating a strong point of view for brands, designed to connect in authentic and unexpected ways.

Artificial intelligence has invaded every process in the advertising business. Against that backdrop, how should brands view "creativity"?