When entrepreneur Rahul Choudhry launched his pharmaceutical company in 2020, he faced a challenge that most start-up owners do—finding an ambassador who would be a natural fit for his products. His first choice was actor Sara Ali Khan. “She has publicly spoken about her hormonal imbalance issues, which made her [the best] fit for our pharmaceutical company. We were advocating wellness, after all,” he recalls. But roping in a popular actor wasn’t economically feasible for a start-up. So, he did the next best thing—he chose Zara over Sara.

“We were creating educational content for our products using ChatGPT, and were also using AI for self-diagnostic purposes. That’s when it hit me. When we were using AI for all aspects of our company, why couldn’t we use it to create the brand’s face? That’s how Zara came to life,” reveals Delhi-based Choudhry, the brain behind the “virtual human” Zara Shatavari.