Google News Initiative AI Skills Program 2.0 Opens Applications for Journalists in India ·Unknown

The Google News Initiative (GNI), in partnership with How India Lives, has opened applications for the AI Skills Program 2.0, an advanced training initiative designed to help journalists and media professionals in India integrate artificial intelligence into newsroom operations.

Building on the success of the inaugural 2025 edition, the six-week program goes beyond introducing AI tools by equipping participants with practical skills to build AI-powered newsroom applications, dashboards, and workflows that improve reporting, editing, research, and content production.

The program begins with a two-day, in-person AI Design Lab in Delhi-NCR on August 10–11, 2026, where participants will receive hands-on training using Google’s latest AI technologies, including Gemini, AI Studio, NotebookLM, Veo, Flow, Stitch, and SynthID. This is followed by five advanced online learning sessions and five weeks of personalized one-on-one mentoring to help participants implement AI solutions within their own newsrooms.

Participants will explore AI applications in story research, document analysis, newsroom productivity, content creation, AI agents, and AI-assisted app development through vibe coding—no prior coding experience is required. Each participant will also complete a capstone project that addresses a real newsroom challenge using AI.

The first edition of the program produced more than 240 AI-powered newsroom projects, over 100 AI applications, and helped participants save an average of eight hours of work each week.

Applications are open to journalists, editors, newsroom leaders, social media teams, visual journalists, and digital publishers working with eligible Indian news organizations. Applicants should have at least 10 years of newsroom experience, be able to attend the in-person workshop in Delhi-NCR, and commit approximately four hours per week throughout the six-week program.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with the final application deadline set for August 5, 2026.

Interested applicants can submit their application HERE

For more information about the Google News Initiative AI Skills Program 2.0, visit the official program page HERE

For more AI programs, visit OFY Website HERE