MUMBAI – In a major play to redefine the digital entertainment landscape, the JioStar Group (the $8.5 billion joint venture between Reliance, Viacom18, and Disney Star) has appointed Emmy Award-winner Stephan Bugaj as Senior Vice-President – GenAI Content & Technology.
Announced on February 3, 2026, the appointment signals JioStar’s intent to move beyond traditional streaming into “AI-native” storytelling and interactive media.
A Visionary at the Intersection of Story and Tech
Stephan Bugaj is a veteran creative technologist with over 30 years of experience at the world’s most prestigious storytelling houses. His mandate at JioStar is to build intelligent content pipelines and scalable creative frameworks that allow for real-time audience engagement.
Professional Pedigree:
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Pixar Animation Studios: Contributed to legendary films like The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
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Genvid Entertainment: Served as Chief Creative Officer, where he pioneered Massively Interactive Live Events (MILEs)—a format that blends live streaming with video game mechanics.
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Telltale Games & Hanson Robotics: Led narrative design for choice-driven games and worked on high-level social robotics (the famous Sophia robot).
JioStar’s AI Strategy: The “AI-Native” Roadmap
JioStar is already deep into its AI transformation. The group recently launched “Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh,” billed as India’s first AI-powered premium entertainment series. With Bugaj at the helm of GenAI technology, the group is focusing on three key pillars:
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Interactive Storytelling: Developing formats where the audience can influence plotlines in real-time, similar to the MILE formats Bugaj perfected.
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Efficiency at Scale: Using GenAI to automate labor-intensive content workflows, from storyboarding to post-production, enabling “faster experimentation.”
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Hyper-Personalization: Utilizing conversational AI interfaces and second-screen engagement layers to make the viewing experience unique to every user.
Strategic Context: The Battle for the Indian Screen
The appointment comes as JioStar reaches over 750 million viewers weekly across its 100+ TV channels and JioCinema/JioHotstar platforms. By hiring a global leader in GenAI, JioStar aims to stay ahead of competitors like Netflix and Amazon in the race to capture India’s “digital-first” youth audience.
| Metric | JioStar Group Detail |
| New Leader | Stephan Bugaj (SVP, GenAI Content & Tech) |
| Parent Companies | Reliance Industries, Viacom18, Disney India |
| Key AI Project | Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh (AI-reimagined Epic) |
| Target Audience | 750M+ weekly viewers |
