Eros Innovation Unveils Asia's Sovereign AI Vision at Cannes Next 2026

The three-hour programme at Village Innovation, Pantiero, followed by a reception, brought together 200+ studio leaders, sovereign funds, government representatives, filmmakers, and technology companies to discuss sovereign AI, AI-native storytelling, and the future of film financing.

The programme highlighted Asia's development of AI-native cultural infrastructure through sovereign, rights-aware AI systems. Eros Innovation's Large Cultural Models (LCMs), launched at the IndiaAI Summit in New Delhi by MeitY, Government of India, as a sovereign AI initiative and trained on 1.5 trillion rights-cleared cultural tokens, formed the foundation of the discussions. The platform launches globally as Eros Universe in June 2026.

"We came to Cannes not to talk about what AI is doing to entertainment, but to show what happens when AI is built from inside culture rather than on top of it. The industry once embraced VFX because it expanded creativity rather than replacing it. We believe Cultural Intelligence is the next evolution, AI built responsibly to enhance creator value, protect identity, and unlock new forms of storytelling," said Kishore Lulla, Founder, Eros Innovation.

The programme opened with a keynote by Kishore Lulla and a fireside chat with Joerg Bachmaier, CEO of Studio Babelsberg, on AI's impact on large-scale film production while preserving human creative decision-making.

The first panel, Sovereign AI vs Platform AI - Who Owns Culture?, explored sovereign AI systems beyond dominant US and Chinese platforms. Speakers included Paul Trillo of Asteria Films, Alex Serdiuk of Respeecher, and Ridhima Lulla of Eros Innovation, moderated by Anssi Komulainen of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. Topics included AI-native filmmaking, consent-based voice AI, cultural datasets, governance, and creator identity protection.

The second panel, AI-Native Storytelling - Not Assisted, Not Enhanced, Native, examined the shift from AI-assisted production to AI-native storytelling. Christina Caspers-Rohmer of Trixter (Cinesite Group), Shin Chul of BIFAN, Ridhima Lulla, and VFX supervisor Martin Madsen discussed AI-native character systems, evolving VFX workflows, and Asia's growing AI filmmaking ecosystem. The session was moderated by Mikael Windelin.

The final panel, The Future of Film Financing in the AI Era, examined how AI-driven cost compression and new financing models are reshaping film funding and ownership.

Speakers included Marc Iserlis of Republic and filmmaker Miguel Faus, whose debut feature Calladita became the first blockchain-crowdfunded film. Moderated by Piyush Bhatia of Eros Innovation, the discussion also referenced Eros Innovation's film securitization model.

- ANI