Together 2025 Speaker Article: Part 2 with Tony D’Angelo
Continuing our ELIA Together 2025 Speaker series where we bring you hands-on perspectives and key takeaways from our very own speakers, this week we feature Tony D’Angelo. Read on to discover his insights and highlights from his popular AI workshop exploring customGPTs:
Don’t Touch My AI: From Threat to Powerful Tool
Barcelona became the epicentre of a quiet revolution this February. At ELIA Together 2025, I had the honour of demonstrating how that seemingly intimidating AI “monster” could be transformed into a personal “superhero”, thanks to the magic of a CustomGPT.
Standing in front of a wonderfully diverse audience (translators, project managers, LSP owners) my mission was clear: to shift the narrative from “AI is coming for our jobs!” to illustrating how AI can become a valuable ally on our professional journey. The room was filled with professionals eager to claim their space within the AI landscape rather than fear it.
My session, “Don’t Touch My AI,” wasn’t about keeping AI at arm’s length; rather, it focused on making it uniquely yours. Like assembling your own Guardians of the Galaxy team, we explored how to build CustomGPTs using five essential components:
- Persona: Defining “who” your GPT is
- Context: Setting the situation and audience
- Task: Specifying exactly what you need done
- Output: Determining how the results should appear
- Constraint: Establishing necessary limitations
Through hands-on experimentation, we tried to create CustomGPTs tailored to genuine language industry challenges: from terminology management to project planning assistance. The most rewarding moment? Witnessing the enthusiasm and genuine curiosity rather than anxiety on attendees’ faces as they realized this technology speaks our language, not the other way around.
What makes CustomGPTs true game-changers for our industry isn’t their complexity but their simplicity: no coding required, no steep learning curve, just your expertise channelled through a tool that genuinely understands the nuances of our profession.
As ELIA Together 2025 concluded, I left with a profound appreciation for our community’s resilience and adaptability. We are not passive observers in this AI revolution; we are active participants, shaping these tools to enhance our human expertise rather than replace it.
The future belongs to those who harness AI as an extension of themselves: a custom-built tool that speaks your language, understands your needs, and amplifies your unique human skills.
All this interest in AI and the drive to bridge the gap between people in our sector and the tools that will become pivotal players in the near future led me to propose the creation of an AI Committee within ELIA. This committee was launched just a few weeks ago under the leadership of Aleksandrina Karabasheva, with valuable contributions from Diego Cresceri, and also with my support, aiming to equip the translation world with the necessary tools to face upcoming challenges… Together!
Have you explored customGPTs yet? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Tony via his LinkedIn to continue the conversation!
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Next up is Chris Raulf exploring the future of the industry with AI and human expertise combined. Stay tuned!
