On July 7 and 8, a training on AI and journalism was held at Global Village in Berlin led by two professionals from Maldita.es and a digital transformation expert.
It combined expertise in the development and application of AI technologies, as well as the governance, ethics and communication of AI systems within the media sector.
The training for 30 journalists from various European countries was organised with the goal of exploring the possibilities, potential and shortcomings of AI for non-profit media.
On the first day, the trainers from the Maldita.es team, Pablo Pérez Benavente and Patricia Ruiz Guevara, guided participants on the responsible use of AI in newsrooms.
Benavente showcased an overview of predictive models, embedding and large language models (LLMs), showing participants how to extract narratives and trends using AI-generated synthetic data and build and test a document-grounded chatbot.
Guevara discussed the challenges of working with AI-generated content in journalism and how to talk about AI in reporting.
They also addressed the legal implications of AI use in journalism, including the EU AI Act, data protection (GDPR), liability and transparency.
On day two, training continued with Camila Reed, a communications and digital transformation expert.
She guided participants on developing customised AI ethics guidelines for their newsrooms and how to integrate such guidelines into the newsroom workflow and culture.
The training was organised as part of the MOST project.
This is implemented by a consortium comprising: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN); Centro per la Cooperazione Internazionale (CCI/OBCT); El Orden Mundial – EOM, Spain; European Pravda, Ukraine; New Eastern Europe; Le Courrier des Balkans – Courriers D’Europe et D’Orient – DcB, France; and Stichting the Tactical Technology Collective – TTC, Netherlands.