Alvaro Liuzzi, digital media consultant, at the beginning of the workshop on the use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms.
The hemispheric conference SIPConnect 2025 concluded on Friday, July 18, with the intensive Redacciones5G workshop by Telecom on the use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms, led by digital innovation consultant Álvaro Liuzzi. Over the course of three days, the event brought together more than 160 journalism industry leaders from 19 countries in Miami.
The closing session, titled “AI First,” gathered over 50 journalists from Latin American media outlets, who put into practice the knowledge acquired during the conference by designing projects under Liuzzi’s supervision. The goal: to further develop and implement them in their respective newsrooms upon returning to their countries.
In the first part of the workshop, Liuzzi presented the advantages of Custom GPT, a tool available in the paid version of the popular AI assistant. He explained how this option allows journalists to train algorithms with their own databases and files to generate text, audio, and video content tailored to their information needs and specific contexts.
The consultant also highlighted the functionalities of Google AI Studio, which he described as “more reliable and user-friendly” than the ChatGPT interface.
During his presentation, Liuzzi warned about one of the main risks of AI in journalism: over-reliance on these technologies to the detriment of field reporting. “The danger is stopping going out into the streets and talking to people,” he cautioned.
Even so, he pointed out that the new generation of AI-based technologies—already underway—will not only allow content creation but also autonomous editorial decision-making. “Bots will be able to suggest different coverage angles,” he said.
In this regard, he stressed that human oversight must remain constant, and that journalists should play a leading role in the development of these tools, given their expertise in editorial processes and fact-checking.
Liuzzi also urged professionals to commit to ongoing AI training. He cited a Thomson Reuters report showing that 58% of journalists surveyed across more than 70 markets in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East have acquired their AI knowledge through self-learning.
At the end of the workshop, SIP Executive Director Carlos Lauría officially closed SIPConnect 2025, inviting attendees to the 81st IAPA General Assembly, to be held from October 16 to 19 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and announcing that the next edition of SIPConnect will return to Miami in 2026.