AI Accountability Fellowship – Pulitzer Center

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The Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowship is designed for reporters from all beats, desks, and formats who want to broaden, deepen, and diversify reporting on artificial intelligence with an accountability lens.

Journalists need to apply with a reporting project they wish to pursue during their Fellowship. Pulitzer Center encourage enterprise and accountability projects that use a variety of approaches—including data analysis, records requests, and shoe-leather reporting—to delve into the real-world impact of algorithms on policy, individuals, and communities.

While Pulitzer Center welcome projects on a broad range of issues related to the impact of AI in society, this year Pulitzer Center are also placing special emphasis on certain topics. Pulitzer Center are seeking to support at least one project that examines the intersection of AI and conflict, war, and peace.

In partnership with Digital Witness Lab at Princeton University, we are also recruiting one project that focuses on the role the messaging platform WhatsApp plays in influencing public discourse in a particular community. Applicants with reporting projects on these topics are strongly encouraged to apply.

The 10-month Fellowship will provide journalists up to $20,000 to pursue their reporting project. The funds can be used to pay for records requests, travel expenses, data analysis, and stipends. In addition, the Fellows will have access to mentors and relevant training with a group of peers that will help strengthen their reporting projects.

Successful applicants will be expected to join a mandatory 90-minute meeting held every month and to engage with other Fellows in virtual meetings and on the community’s dedicated online platform.

Requirements

  • Staff or freelance journalists working on a wide range of platforms, including print, radio, video, and multimedia.
  • Team players with the experience and/or ability to work collaboratively across newsrooms and borders.
  • Reporters with a deep interest in how AI impacts the world, and why this issue matters to our global well-being.
  • Reporters willing to participate in outreach activities related to their investigations, such as events at schools and universities.
  • Reporters can be based anywhere.
  • The Fellowships are remote.

Benefits

  • The opportunity to work on an urgent, underreported issue for a substantial period of time.
  • Access to mentors and specialized training opportunities. Pro bono legal and public records access support.
  • A community of like-minded colleagues that will continue beyond your Fellowship. Financial support to cover records requests, travel expenses, data analysis, and stipends.
  • The opportunity to find strong collaborators for your project or future projects.
  • The Fellows are eligible to receive up to $20,000 divided in three payments. Please include a detailed budget explaining your reporting expenses. You may include a stipend to pay for your time if you are a freelancer. We expect newsrooms to pay for their staff members’ salaries.

To Apply, You Will Be Asked to Provide the Following:

  • A short statement of purpose: how this Fellowship fits in your career path and why you are best positioned to be an Al Accountability Fellow. (500 words)
  • A detailed description of the reporting project you seek to pursue during your Fellowship. Please do not propose general themes, but propose a concrete project that shows some pre-reporting on the subject. A compelling, well-researched project proposal with a reporting plan will help you stand out among dozens of applicants. (500 words)
  • A budget that lays out anticipated costs of the project. Categories may include records requests, software, data analysis, travel and lodging, and stipends.
  • Three examples (links) of your best stories published in the past three years (not necessarily on artificial intelligence).
  • A letter of commitment or interest from a media organization(s) that would publish your story(ies). If you are a staff reporter, a signed letter from your editor or newsroom manager confirming you have their support in applying for the AI Accountability Fellowship. This letter should explicitly state that your newsroom will allocate time for you to participate in the Fellowship activities and the newsroom will support publishing the stories you produce through this Fellowship. It can also include information on why your manager thinks you would be suited for this Fellowship.
  • Three professional references: These can be either contact information or letters of recommendation.
  • A copy of your resume or curriculum vitae.

For more information: https://pulitzercenter.org/grants-fellowships/opportunities-journalists/ai-accountability-fellowships

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