Meet LIA, Entravision AHORA’s AI presenter and the company’s latest bold venture into AI personalities
With her high cheekbones, chiseled jawline and perfect hair, Entravision’s newest on-air talent has supermodel looks. She has exquisite fashion sense. She presents the news in a polished, neutral Spanish.
She is a Hispanic TV news producer’s dream.
There’s one catch: she’s not human.
Her name is LIA, an acronym for Latina Inteligencia Artificial. She’s an AI-generated “information companion.” Entravision launched LIA last month as part of its new national streaming news service, Entravision AHORA.
As consumers shift their news viewing from broadcast channels and cable TV to streaming platforms, many television networks have launched similar national 24/7 FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels. Think of NBC News NOW, ABC News Live or Noticias Telemundo AHORA.
When Entravision debuted AHORA, its announcement highlighted the platform itself and its four human, world-class journalists: Norma Ribeiro, Jorge Viera, Eduardo Padilla and Lourdes Del RÃo. Three of the four have won Emmys. AHORA will operate out of Entravision’s Miami hub, combining national programming with reporting from its local operations in markets including Miami, Orlando, McAllen, El Paso, Denver, Las Vegas and San Diego.
And halfway into the announcement, it mentioned LIA. She will work alongside the four anchors. She will deliver real-time information, weather updates, data visualizations, election results, explainers and other contextual content.
While it’s tempting to simply view LIA as a clever — if somewhat unsettling — gimmick, LIA is arguably Entravision’s most consequential innovation.
A closer look at LIA reveals the team behind her, Entravision’s bold bet on AI, and why some Hispanic journalists are uneasy.
“I’m not a journalist”
According to the Reuters Institute’s 2026 trends report, Western traditional media companies have largely shied away from using AI presenters, partly over fears of job cuts. Entravision AHORA goes out of its way to emphasize that LIA is not a journalist.
In a YouTube video interview introducing his AI colleague, Viera asks LIA to clarify her role.
“I’m a news presenter created with AI. I’m not a human. I’m not a journalist,” LIA tells Viera. “Every word I say is selected, written, discussed, reviewed and approved by Entravision’s editorial team. I don’t choose the news, I don’t interview sources, I don’t investigate and I don’t publish anything on my own.”
So, if she’s only a presenter, who are the Wizards of AI behind LIA?
According to LIA herself, Caroline Vásquez is the person directing her editorial identity. Vásquez, a Puerto Rican American who has worked alongside Entravision Media President MarÃa MartÃnez-Guzmán since Vásquez was 19, helps define LIA’s voice, tone and the way she presents information.
On the technical and creative side is LeaAnna Hernandez, Entravision’s executive vice president of AI strategy. Hernandez oversees everything from LIA’s wardrobe and appearance to the sound of her voice and how she appears on screen.
LIA appears on a virtual set powered by Unreal Engine, the real-time 3D technology widely used in gaming and increasingly in broadcast production. You can see her on set in this YouTube video.
“There are several layers of editorial, technical and visual review that make each of my appearances possible,” LIA tells Viera. “I am not a system that works on its own. What the audience sees on screen is the result of the work and judgment of many people.”
So if you’re pitching AHORA, don’t bother with LIA. She won’t take your call. Pitch the humans who write her lines.
Viera then asks LIA a more existential question: “There are those who worry that AI can replace journalists. What do you say to that?”
Entravision’s — er, LIA’s — response:
“I cannot replace the work of a journalist. I cannot go out into the field, earn a source’s trust, press an official, witness events in a community, or make editorial decisions. That responsibility belongs to journalists like you and the team behind every piece of information I present.”
Journalists Still Have Reasons to Worry
In spite of LIA’s panic-soothing self-descriptions, some Hispanic journalists have already expressed concerns.
In one Spanish-language YouTube news commentary video by SOMOS JODI2 titled “¡Dejan Fuera a Periodistas!” (Journalists Get Left Out!), co-host Edén Soto Alva, a three-time Emmy-winning former Univision Dallas anchor and reporter, was both impressed and uneasy.
“I like how she looks, but obviously, it worries me,” Soto Alva said (translated from Spanish). “Because, first of all, I’m a journalist — a digital journalist, too — and I appear on camera in my work, on social media. At any moment, I could be replaced by artificial intelligence. Plus, we have a lot of acquaintances and friends who work as on-air talent, right? So, what does the future hold?”
Soto Alva’s co-host Jairo Lozano was impressed with LIA and how much these AI personalities have improved in the last year. He also poked fun at LIA’s slightly robotic qualities and her name, jokingly calling her “La TIA”: “Tonta Inteligencia Artificial,” or Dumb Artificial Intelligence.
LIA Isn’t Entravision’s First AI Personality
LIA also fits into a broader Entravision pattern. In September 2025, the company introduced Coyotec, an AI Latino radio host paired with human personality Geraldine “GeeGee” Guzman.
The results? In a June press release, citing Nielsen research, Entravision credited Coyotec with a 75% jump in weekly cume among Hispanic men 25 to 54 between March and April on LA’s José 97.5 FM. Building on that audience growth, Entravision later expanded the human-AI format into five additional markets, in California, Nevada and Texas.
Whether LIA can do the same for AHORA remains to be seen.
In an August press release, Hernandez shared an insight into how she views avatars like Coyotec and his new television cousin, LIA.
“We intentionally created Coyotec to be our ‘amigo inteligente’ (intelligent friend) — a trusted companion that informs, entertains, and connects with listeners,” Hernandez said. “Their [GeeGee and Coyotec’s] chemistry shows how naturally AI can adapt when paired with great talent.”
Can you detect a pattern? Same word: “companion.” Same executive. Same hybrid human-AI strategy.
Entravision is clearly ready for AI media talent.
Are we?
Bill Gato is CEO and a partner of Noticias Newswire, the nation’s only Latino-owned and operated press release distribution service specializing in the U.S. Hispanic market. He is also co-editor of Hispanic PR Blog and a former Miami Herald journalist. Reach him at bill@noticiasnewswire.com.
Editor’s note: Bill Gato, a human, wrote this article with light research and editing assistance from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, because three AIs are better than one.