OlimpIA: How La Nación DATA and Google Created a Conversational Chatbot for the Olympic Games

At Media Party Buenos Aires 2024, Florencia Rodríguez Altube, Martín Pascua (La Nación DATA), and María José Iriarte (Google News Initiative) presented OlimpIA, an innovative conversational chatbot designed for the Olympic Games. Developed using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and Agent Builder technology, this generative artificial intelligence tool allowed the audience to directly and dynamically explore over 100 years of Olympic history, medal statistics, and trivia.

During development, the team faced classic AI challenges such as “hallucinations,” which they resolved by reducing the model’s temperature to zero and designing specific microservices to guarantee data accuracy. The speakers highlighted that the project’s success stemmed from a robust culture of experimentation and multidisciplinary teamwork that brought together journalists, developers, and designers with the full support of the media organization’s leadership.

The project also helped clarify the limitations of AI regarding real-time data and arithmetic operations, strengthening the chatbot through the analysis of over 1,400 user feedback messages. In conclusion, OlimpIA proved to be a valuable step forward in new forms of journalistic storytelling, using technology to transform and deepen the relationship between media outlets and their subscribers.

Don’t miss the full presentation! Watch the talk by Florencia Rodríguez Altube, Martín Pascua, and María José Iriarte at Media Party Buenos Aires 2024 (English subtitles available).