From Puerto Rico to California: How AI helped deliver critical information in two languages during the LA fires
Founded in 2010 as a high school journalism project, Boyle Heights Beat has trained over 300 students, many pursuing careers in journalism, education, law, and community organizing. With strong community support, it has evolved into a professional newsroom, continuing youth mentorship while serving as a trusted local news source. In 2024, it joined the Los Angeles Local News Initiative, serving as a model for similar publications across L.A.
When the Palisades and Eaton fires began ravaging parts of Los Angeles, communities outside of the direct path of the fires were understandably on edge. Power outages, school closures and destructive Santa Ana winds impacted most of the region.
Boyle Heights, a historic, traditionally working-class neighborhood, had been labeled a “toxic hotspot” for air quality issues in 2012. The community, along with others on the east side of Los Angeles, is surrounded by freeways, auto body shops and factories: all sources of air pollution that have led to documentation of higher rates of childhood asthma and hospitalizations.
The 10-person Boyle Heights newsroom knew immediately their community would experience elevated air quality issues. They also recognized the importance of providing reliable information in both English and Spanish about how to help, ongoing power outages, toxic ash, school closures, and where to access free resources like air purifiers. But they didn’t have anyone on staff currently assigned to translating content, and they needed help.
Three thousand miles away, in Puerto Rico, Noel Algarín Martínez was editing content for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI). He had documented his process of finding the most reliable way to translate their Spanish language content into English as part of their 2024 grant work with AJP’s Product & AI Studio.
His work testing multiple LLMs and refining translation-focused AI prompts meant CPI no longer needed to rely on one person who spent hours translating their investigative stories. Instead, they could quickly translate stories using the OpenAI API. They called it Bilingual Bridge. This elevated their translator to more of an editor role, spending more time checking for accuracy and cultural context.
The meticulous process Algarín Martínez documented would ultimately give Boyle Heights Beat exactly what it needed to quickly serve its community — a tested, trusted prompt.
As the fires continued to rage throughout the Los Angeles area, Zainab Shah, vice president of audience strategy at AJP, advised the Boyle Heights team on their audience strategy for crisis reporting and beyond. At one point, the Product and AI studio staff alerted her to the prompt Algarín Martínez had used for an early version of a translation GPT. The hypothesis was that since it worked so well on Spanish-to-English content, with just a couple of tweaks, it should reliably work in the reverse.
Within minutes, the Boyle Heights team translated several stories from English to Spanish. Jessica Perez, senior editor, said the translations “proved to be effective” and added Instagram posts to the mix of content translated for the community. She said the AI process worked so well that the Boyle Heights Beat will continue to experiment with it for translations.
Back in Puerto Rico, Algarín Martínez said it’s amazing to see how, almost organically, his work positively impacted another media outlet.
“It feels like a seed traveling through the air and landing exactly where a tree is most needed,” he said.
