Zameer Hussain at TECH STAR Summit 2026: A Conversation on AI in Visual Effects & Technologies
Zameer Hussain represented Basilic Fly Studio at the TECH STAR Summit 2026, held as part of the Saveetha Transdisciplinary Annual Research Summit (STAR Summit) at SIMATS Engineering, Chennai. Attending as a Chief Guest, the studio’s COO and Global EVP spent the session talking to students, researchers, faculty, and fellow industry professionals about how Artificial Intelligence is changing the way visual effects get made.
The summit exists to bring engineering students closer to the people working in the industry, giving them a real sense of how new technologies are being used once they leave the classroom. It pulls together students, researchers, and professionals from different fields to look at where technology is heading and what that means for the careers waiting on the other side of graduation. Its focus on interdisciplinary learning made it a natural fit for a studio that lives right at the meeting point of technology and creativity.
For many of the students in the room, visual effects is a field they have seen on screen but rarely had the chance to understand from the inside. Sessions like this one offer a window into that world, showing how the films and series they watch are built behind the scenes, and how much of that work now depends on the same engineering principles they are studying every day.
Talking About AI on the VFX Floor
Much of the conversation centred on the role AI now plays across a production pipeline. Zameer touched on both Generative AI and Non Generative AI, and how the two work side by side in day to day production. The discussion stayed practical, looking at where these tools genuinely help rather than getting lost in the hype around them.
He walked the audience through the kinds of tasks where AI has already become part of the workflow, from speeding up repetitive processes to supporting planning and quality checks across a project. The aim was to give students a clear, honest picture of how studios are actually using these tools today, rather than the version often painted in headlines.
The message running through it all was a simple one. AI works best as a tool that supports artists, not one that replaces them. By taking care of the repetitive, time consuming work, it frees people up to spend their energy on the parts of production that really call for human judgement and imagination. That balance, between letting technology handle the heavy lifting and keeping creative decisions firmly in human hands, was a thread that ran through the whole session.
Where Engineering Meets Creativity
The summit also drew out the growing overlap between engineering and creative work. As AI, machine learning, automation, cloud computing, and data analytics become a bigger part of media production, studios increasingly need people who can move comfortably between the technical and the creative.
That shift is opening up real opportunities for engineering graduates in fields once seen as purely creative. A few years ago, a student studying computer science or data analytics might not have pictured a future in film or media. Today, those skills are in genuine demand across studios building the technology behind modern productions.
The industry needs problem solvers who understand the technology and respect the craft in equal measure, and those people are becoming more valuable by the day. For students weighing up where their degree might take them, it was a reminder that the path is far wider than it might first appear.
Look around the Campus and Students Projects
Beyond the keynote, Zameer was invited to tour the SIMATS Engineering campus, including its innovation centres, research facilities, and laboratories. It was a chance to see the kind of hands on, research led environment shaping the next generation of technical talent.
A large part of the summit is built around the students themselves, who present their work in a research showcase that brings together projects from across different branches of engineering. Walking through that space offered a close look at what the students have been building, from ideas rooted in artificial intelligence and machine learning to projects exploring automation, data, and emerging technologies. Many of these projects reflected the same themes running through the day, with students applying technical skills to real problems in genuinely creative ways.
The visit also reflected the institution’s investment in giving students space to experiment, build, and learn by doing. Seeing where that learning takes place, the resources behind it, and the projects it produces, offered a fuller picture of the ecosystem preparing these students for the industries they are about to enter.
Bringing Industry and Academia Together
Basilic Fly Studio’s presence at the summit reflected just how closely technology, engineering, and digital content creation now sit together. Working in such a technology driven part of the entertainment industry, the studio was able to give students a real picture of how these tools are put to use on large scale global productions.
There is real value in these exchanges flowing both ways. Students gain a clearer view of the industry they are working towards, while studios get a glimpse of the talent and fresh thinking coming up behind them. Conversations between people building the technology and people studying it tend to leave both sides a little better informed.
Events like the TECH STAR Summit do valuable work in connecting education, research, and industry, giving students a clear view of where their field is heading while letting studios share what they are learning along the way. As technology keeps moving quickly, conversations like these go a long way in preparing the next generation of engineers and innovators for what comes next.
