Hyderabad: The Telangana Media Academy, in collaboration with ADIRA Data Leads, organised a workshop on “Artificial Intelligence (AI): Tools & Techniques” at its auditorium in Nampally on Wednesday. Over 100 journalists from Telugu, English, and Urdu media outlets took part in the session.
AI’s growing role in journalism
In his inaugural address, Telangana Media Academy Chairman K. Srinivas Reddy said AI is reshaping journalism and newsroom practices. He emphasised that journalists must acquire AI skills to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving media landscape. He pointed out that AI can enhance digital and social media reporting by enabling quicker delivery of news to readers and viewers. Reddy also reaffirmed the Academy’s commitment to upgrading journalists’ skills through continuous training.
First structured AI training for Telangana journalists
Senior journalist and AI trainer Udumula Sudhakar Reddy led the session. He introduced structured AI training for journalists in Telangana for the first time. According to him, journalism has entered the era of agentic AI, making it crucial to understand both its uses and risks. He urged participants to adopt lifelong learning, citing his own practice of updating AI knowledge daily.
Sudhakar Reddy outlined both opportunities and threats. He warned that AI could be misused to spread misinformation or manipulate public opinion. He also cautioned that AI-generated content might fuel divisions along caste, religion, gender, or class lines.
Practical demonstrations of AI tools
During the workshop, Sudhakar Reddy demonstrated practical applications of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Notebook LM, Google Gemini, Midjourney, Sora, and VEO3. Using case examples, he showed how journalists could integrate these tools into newsroom work. However, he also stressed that flaws in training data or weak prompts could produce biased or misleading results. Therefore, he said, ethical use of AI remains a critical responsibility for journalists.
Participation from officials
Telangana Media Academy Secretary Nagulapalli Venkateswara Rao and other officials also attended the programme.