WAN-Ifra’s 2026 ‘AI in Media Forum’convened leading editors, product heads, technologists and AI innovators in Bengaluru as part of a four-day AI Media Week.

The event at the end of February focussed discussions on embedding AI across newsroom workflows, product, audience and revenue operations, with emphasis on measurable impact, governance and transformation.

The forum opened with a keynote by Avinash Mudaliar, co-founder and chief executive of HT Labs, on the implications of exploding content supply, collapsing scarcity and the challenge of building sustainable OTT and news business models in an era of digital abundance.

A leadership panel explored how AI is transforming editorial strategy and long-term sustainability across Indian news organisations, while highlighting the need to balance efficiency with editorial integrity.

Panelists emphasised that AI should assist rather than replace journalists, reducing workload and enhancing credibility so newsrooms can focus on producing higher-value content.

The discussion featured Sowbhagyalakshmi K.T (director, The Printers Mysore), Mukesh Sharma (co-founder and deputy Chief executive, Collective Newsroom), Tresa Sherin Morera (senior editor – publishing and production, Thomson Reuters) and Santhosh George Jacob (coordinating editor, Manorama Online).

In a virtual session, Ezra Eeman, AI Expert and Director of Strategy & Innovation at NPO (Netherlands), shared predictions for AI in 2026 and beyond.  

Afternoon sessions highlighted practical implementation, including case studies from the WAN-IFRA AI Catalyst South Asia Cohort 2 programme, AI-assisted coding workflows at The Hindu, AI-powered fact-checking from The Logical Indian, and AI-driven OCR for advertising and sales intelligence at Sakal Media Group.

The week concluded with a curated study tour across leading technology and media organisations in Bengaluru, offering participants exposure to real-world AI applications in cloud infrastructure, audience analytics, generative AI, localisation technologies and digital newsroom operations. 

The programme featured visits to The News Minute, CleverTap, NeuralGarage, Bamboobox and PocketFM. A pre-forum workshop enabled journalists and editors to build custom AI-powered newsroom applications.

The forum is part of WAN-Ifra’s global AI in Media Initiative, which supports news organisations in adopting AI responsibly and strategically through forums, workshops and peer exchange.  Further global editions will be announced in the coming months. More information from Magdoom Mohamed (magdoom.mohamed@wan-ifra.org) or Thai Anban Chokkalingam (mailto:thai.anban@wan-ifra.org). 

–WAN-Ifra, with thanks