The World Association of News Publishers is inviting journalists to a one-day AI workshop in Bengaluru on 23 February 2026 to learn how to build personalised newsroom apps using ChatGPT without coding. Led by AI expert Prof. Sunil Saxena, the session focuses on workflow automation, prompt engineering, and practical newsroom applications.
The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is bringing a hands-on AI workshop to Bengaluru, inviting journalists, editors and media professionals to build personalised newsroom applications powered by artificial intelligence without writing a single line of code. The initiative reflects a growing awareness across the media industry that AI is no longer a distant trend but an operational reality reshaping how news is gathered, produced, distributed and consumed. The one-day programme, scheduled for 23 February 2026 between 11:00 am and 6:00 pm IST, aims to help working journalists integrate AI tools into their daily workflows by using ChatGPT to build newsroom apps that streamline tasks ranging from writing and editing to research and trend analysis. Seats are limited—a reminder of the increasing appetite among newsrooms to understand AI beyond abstract debates and move into practical deployment.
AI has surged into the core of journalism more swiftly than many earlier media innovations. While the industry once debated whether AI might replace reporters, the conversation today is centred on how newsrooms can strategically adopt AI to extend human capability rather than erase it. For WAN-IFRA, the workshop is an intervention designed to bridge the gap between aspiration and execution. Many organisations acknowledge AI’s potential, yet struggle to find the technical expertise, time or resources to implement workflows. The promise of “no coding” is a breakthrough because it lowers the barrier to experimentation. Participants will use guided prompt engineering techniques—an emerging skillset in journalism—to direct AI systems to produce consistent, accurate and relevant output tailored to newsroom needs.
The workshop will be led by Prof. Sunil Saxena, Founder-Director of the AI Media Academy. Saxena brings more than four decades of experience across print, digital media and media education, making him one of India’s strongest advocates for integrating AI into journalism. His career includes leading roles in newsrooms and academia, including serving as Head of the Times School of Media at Bennett University, where he oversaw training for the next generation of journalists. Today, he is a global trainer and expert frequently consulted on AI strategy for newsrooms. His involvement underscores an important shift: as journalism confronts technological disruption, the industry is relying not only on engineers and product developers but on media educators who can translate sophisticated tools into journalistic practice.
Participants in the Bengaluru session will spend the day building multiple AI tools tailored to newsroom needs. These may include assistants that outline long-form stories, apps that summarise complex documents such as government reports or legal filings, systems that generate style-specific copy for headlines or social platforms, and tools that surface emerging topics by analysing audience conversations and digital trends. By the end of the day, attendees are expected to not just understand how AI works but to leave with functioning prototypes capable of immediate use in their newsroom environments. The promise is not just efficiency but empowerment—journalists can become builders rather than mere users of software.
A key theme underpinning the workshop is workflow automation. Modern newsrooms face intense pressure to publish more content across more channels in less time, with shrinking resources and heightened competition from digital-native platforms. AI-powered automation can relieve some of this burden by handling repetitive tasks such as transcription, copy editing, tagging, SEO refinement and content repurposing. This allows journalists to refocus on reporting, investigations and fieldwork—functions that remain uniquely human and foundational to democracy. The workshop argues that AI’s greatest value is not in replacing journalism but in extending the reach and stamina of journalists.
Prompt engineering—the art of designing instructions for AI tools—is another focal point. As large language models become embedded in editorial environments, the quality of prompts increasingly determines the reliability and precision of AI output. For journalism, which demands accuracy, consistency and ethical safeguards, prompt engineering is not a novelty but a professional skill. Participants will explore how AI systems respond to tone, structure, constraints and sourcing, and how prompts can be refined to produce content aligned with editorial standards. The ability to dictate nuance in phrasing, cultural context or audience sensitivity will likely define whether AI becomes an asset or a liability in newsrooms.
Personalisation is also gaining traction in the industry. With audiences fragmenting and subscriptions increasingly tied to relevance, AI-powered news apps enable media houses to deliver tailored information to individual readers. A journalist could build an app that tracks beat-specific developments, such as policy updates, geopolitical events or stock movements, and deliver them directly to audiences through newsletters or alerts. For internal use, editors could deploy dashboards that flag trending topics or reader engagement patterns, helping shape coverage priorities. These tools are particularly useful for smaller publications that lack data teams or product engineering resources but need to remain competitive in the digital attention economy.
The Bengaluru event is not just a workshop—it is a marker of WAN-IFRA’s broader commitment to supporting innovation in the news publishing sector. Over the past several years, the organisation has launched training programmes, accelerator cohorts and collaborative initiatives that bring newsrooms together to experiment with AI-driven solutions. For media houses navigating declining advertising revenues, shifting consumer behaviour and the pressure to transition to subscription-driven models, AI represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Without structured guidance, adoption risks being fragmented or misaligned. Training sessions such as these help establish a shared baseline of competence across the industry.
The workshop also signals a shift in attitude among media professionals. Just three years ago, conversations about AI in Indian and global newsrooms were largely speculative. Concerns centred on misinformation, job displacement and credibility risks. Those fears have not vanished, but they now coexist with pragmatic interest in adoption. In many organisations, AI tools have already entered editorial production through transcription services, automated caption generation, visual sorting tools, paywall optimisation algorithms and audience analytics. The next phase involves enabling non-technical staff to design their own AI solutions without waiting for engineering teams or third-party vendors. This accelerates innovation cycles and embeds experimentation directly into newsroom culture.
For journalists, the workshop arrives at a moment when the profession is under pressure to maintain relevance and trust in a saturated information environment. AI cannot solve every challenge facing journalism, but it can provide leverage. When used responsibly, it amplifies storytelling, expands reporting bandwidth and makes it easier to deliver depth at scale. The Bengaluru event may catalyse a wave of AI-assisted experimentation across India’s news ecosystem—aligning with global trends seen in Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
WAN-IFRA’s invitation ends with an appeal familiar to the tech world: seats are limited, reserve your spot. Beneath the friendly marketing tone lies a recognition that media organisations who fail to adapt risk stagnation. As AI reshapes content industries from advertising to entertainment, journalism is reaching an inflexion point. The Bengaluru workshop represents a practical step forward—less debate, more building.
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