When sports marketing teams burn the midnight oil to create social media content after a game, they typically spend six to seven hours clipping, timestamping, and editing footage. Hardik Jagda has a different vision: getting that same work done in 15 minutes.

As founder and CEO of Proximity Works, a Silicon Valley-based AI-native technology consulting firm, Hardik has spent the past six years helping global sports and media companies scale their tech stack and architecture to scale to hundreds of millions of users. Now, he’s bringing those enterprise-level insights to the creator economy, where individual content creators face similar challenges in terms of efficiency, scale, and global reach.

“AI should be looked at as an operator, one that never sleeps, never burns out, and can multiply the best parts of your business,” Hardik says ahead of his VidCon 2025 presentation. “Especially when you are like a single-person company or a single creator who has just a small team of three or four people working with you.”

From Engineer to AI Pioneer

Hardik’s journey to the forefront of AI innovation began long before ChatGPT captured the world’s attention. After spending his early career in senior engineering leadership positions at various startups, specializing in scaling products from ‘1 to 10’ and ‘10 to 100’, he founded Proximity Works in 2019.

Initially launched as a niche consulting arm for CTO offices, the company has evolved into what Hardik describes as “a group of companies” working with some of the biggest names in global sports and media. The timing proved prescient—Proximity Works began building its first AI product in early 2022, months before the ChatGPT phenomenon exploded.

“I felt like AI would be the single biggest, greatest technology that would be available to us and would help us solve some of the biggest problems that we face today,” Hardik explains. ” With potential far beyond business, reaching into social and systemic challenges.”

The Infrastructure

While many companies chase flashy AI demos and content generation tools, Hardik advocates for a more fundamental shift: moving from the content layer to the infrastructure layer. This approach focuses on accelerating operations rather than replacing creators.

“Our AI systems operate beneath the surface. They’re not here to replace creators.” Hardik emphasizes. “They’re not generating or rewriting content. They’re eliminating the backend noise so creators can focus on what they do best.”

One striking example is Proximity Works’ multilingual sports commentary engine, built for “one of the most watched sports platforms in the world.” The system doesn’t just translate commentary—it adapts to local languages with the appropriate tone, slang, and cultural context, opening up dozens of new markets simultaneously.

“A fan in São Paulo or Madrid shouldn’t feel like the experience was not made for them,” Hardik notes. “When you launch into new markets with that kind of cultural fit, the payoff is massive. You unlock entirely new revenue streams simply by scaling into untapped audiences.”

The Creator Economy’s AI Opportunity

For content creators attending VidCon, Hardik’s message is clear: the same principles that help enterprises scale can transform their operations. The key opportunity? Going global through AI-powered localization.

“If you are a creator producing content in just one language, like English, how do you connect with the rest of the global markets that want to follow, engage, and be part of your story? How do you meet them where they are, without compromising your voice?” Hardik asks. “Being able to release your content in a lot of local languages is the biggest opportunity that I see there.”

This isn’t about AI-generated content replacing authentic creator voices—instead, Hardik advocates for using AI to preserve authenticity while reaching wider audiences. “With the right systems and automations, AI doesn’t dilute authenticity. It protects and scales it,” he explains.

Beyond the Gold Rush

Despite the current AI hype cycle, Hardik cautions against dismissing the technology as another gold rush. His analogy is more fundamental: “AI is going to be like electricity, it’s going to power everything behind the scenes and people won’t even realize that everything that they use on a day-to-day basis is actually powered by AI.”

For executives and creators hesitant to embrace AI, Hardik poses a critical question: “In a world evolving this fast, what’s the cost of doing nothing?”

The competitive reality is stark. “You can’t really compete with a system that operates at 5x capacity,” Hardik warns. “Most of the competitors are using it today, and they are implementing it and integrating it into their core operations.”

The Next Frontier: Hyper-Personalization

Hardik sees hyper-personalization at scale as the next major innovation in streaming and media platforms. He envisions a future where content previews, advertisements, and recommendations adapt to individual preferences in real-time.

“What would work for me would be very different based on my taste versus what would work for you,” Hardik explains, using the example of Netflix’s auto-playing preview clips. He extends this vision to advertising, imagining ads that feel less intrusive because they align with viewer interests and appear at optimal moments.

A Wake-Up Call at VidCon

At VidCon, Hardik is delivering a keynote, followed by real-world case studies from companies that have successfully implemented AI—a format specifically designed to combat “panel fatigue” and demonstrate concrete results.

His rapid AI experimentation framework promises to show attendees how to move from workflow ideas to revenue generation in 90 to 180 days. For creators and platforms still waiting for the “right time” to adopt AI, Hardik hopes his presentation serves as a wake-up call.

“Start taking risks. Start experimenting,” Hardik urges. “What may feel risky today might become your biggest edge tomorrow.”

As the creator economy continues to evolve, the question isn’t whether AI will transform content creation and distribution—it’s whether individual creators and platforms will harness its power before their competitors do. For those attending VidCon this week, Hardik’s insights might just provide the roadmap they need to navigate this transformation successfully.