The first WAN-IFRA International AI Forum held in Vietnam is exploring how artificial intelligence could reshape newsroom workflows, governance and the future of journalism.
The Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA), in collaboration with the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), organized the WAN-IFRA Vietnam International AI Forum 2026 on August 14.
Held in Vietnam for the first time, the forum marks an important milestone in the digital transformation of Vietnamese journalism while reflecting the country’s increasingly prominent position in the global innovation ecosystem.
The event brings together more than 200 delegates, including representatives of state management agencies, media executives, researchers and leading AI experts and speakers from the United States, Asia, ASEAN countries and Vietnam.
Opening the forum, Le Quoc Minh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information, Education and Mass Mobilization, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper and Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, said AI has already entered newsrooms and become part of journalists’ everyday work.
Le Quoc Minh speaks at the opening of the WAN-IFRA Vietnam International AI Forum 2026. Photo courtesy of the organizers
Yet the more powerful AI becomes, he said, the more important questions of trust, people and the role of journalism become.
Citing findings from a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report on AI and the future of news, Minh said only 12% of surveyed respondents felt comfortable with news produced entirely by AI, compared with 62% for news produced entirely by humans.
Between those two figures, he said, lies a “trust gap.”
According to Minh, AI can help journalists tell stories faster. Understanding those stories, however, still requires human experience, empathy and responsibility. Journalism, he argued, can harness the power of technology while preserving its fundamental values: truth, trust and humanity.
Six sessions map out the AI transformation of newsrooms
The International AI Forum is taking place as Vietnam accelerates the implementation of Politburo Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science, technology and national digital transformation, alongside the National Digital Transformation Strategy for 2026-2030, with a vision to 2045.
The forum features a series of thematic sessions and a concluding session focusing on some of the most pressing strategic and practical issues facing journalism in the AI era.
The “Strategic Vision for AI” session, presented by Le Quoc Minh, provides an overview of how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism and the media industry globally and in Vietnam.
Zhang Jun, Chief Technology Officer of the South China Morning Post, shares practical experience from the news organization’s AI-driven digital transformation.
An overview of the WAN-IFRA Vietnam International AI Forum 2026. Photo: Kieu Oanh
One of the forum’s key sessions, “The AI Newsroom and AI-enabled Newsroom Workflows,” brings together experts from The Straits Times in Singapore and Fathm in Colombia.
The session explores how leading media organizations are integrating AI into editorial workflows and developing newsroom models designed for the AI era.
From a governance perspective, the “Governing AI at Scale” session features representatives from Hearst Newspapers in the United States and OK Lab in Switzerland. Discussions focus on developing governance frameworks that can protect public trust, encourage innovation and ensure news organizations retain control over how AI shapes their future.
The forum also showcases practical examples from Vietnamese media, including experiences in applying AI at VnExpress and Ho Chi Minh City’s integrated press, radio and television organization.
Another session, “The Future of Agentic AI,” led by Derrick Ho of Hearst Newspapers, examines one of the latest developments in artificial intelligence: systems capable of autonomously carrying out sequences of complex tasks.
The technology could open up entirely new approaches to newsroom operations, while adding urgency to the broader debate over how journalism can benefit from AI without losing the human judgment and accountability at its core.
Vietnamnet.vn
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