I'll be in Hong Kong later this week for a series of lectures and workshops on AI and journalism, and at least one of them will be open to the public.

It'll be on Friday, May 2nd, 1-2:30 pm at the Meng Wah Complex T6 at the University of Hong Kong, so come say hi!

RSVP: bit.ly/4iIaiAo

While in Rome earlier this month, I met a group of Filipino workers through @reginecabato.bsky.social and Fr. Albert Alejo. Their story of how an online prayer group became a true family was an unexpected Easter reflection. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/6UKL...

I'll be in Perugia later this week for a panel at the International Journalism Festival. The Reuters Institute listed it among "the events you shouldn't miss in Perugia." Lemme know if you're gonna be there!

I simply asked it to generate again, and the second version got the labels correctly. I still liked the original better.

What do you think?

Testing out ChatGPT's new 4o Image Generation feature — what a promising and powerful tool. Here, I worked with it to generate a political cartoon to visualize the irony of the discourse surrounding Duterte’s arrest and subsequetn appearance at the ICC.

Details on my panel at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. Say hi if you're going to be there!

Was playing around with the Budget Bot and stumbled into this weird outlier for covered courts allocations — it might be the first big scoop for this project. Would love to collaborate with any newsroom who'd like to look into this, or who would want to explore other data.

Watching "Hello, Love, Again" on streaming recently reminded me of recent developments in Canadian politics, and made me wonder: Can Filipino migrants still find joy in Canada in 2025?

I looked up all the news executives quoted in partnership announcements between Open AI and media companies. I can't put a finger on it but something about this feels odd to me.

My latest for Generative AI in the Newsroom: I explained in intricate detail how I turned Sheila Coronel's longform piece "The Making of Edgar Matobato" into a 33-minute video that featured AI voices, imagery, animation, and sound.

A couple of resources for Pinoy journalists to make your life easier while covering Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment:

1. A Notebook LM containing the articles of impeachment, which allows you to do AI-driven research into its contents. Message me if you want access.

My latest AI experiment adapting into video @sheilacoronel.bsky.social's longform piece about a longtime hitman and Duterte's drug war. All images, animations, voices, and music were created using Gen AI.

DBM just uploaded the 2025 approved national budget online, and I've updated the budget bot with the data. You can now check budget details by asking the chatbot. I'm working on a separate bot that would allow people to compare the 2025 approved and the 2025 proposed budget.

Last week, after Christmas and before New Year, we visited the woodcarving town of Paete, where you could find shops with all sorts of masterfully crafted religious sculptures, and also, dildos.

A final Christmas gift from Boston: My piece made it to Nieman Reports' Top 5 First Person Essays of 2024!

My essay: niemanreports.org/standing-up-...

Top 5 essays this year: niemanreports.org/nieman-repor...