Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships 2025-2026 (up to $20,000) – YOA

Deadline: August 11, 2025

Applications are open for the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships 2025-2026. AI and different predictive applied sciences have been used to make coverage choices, perceive illness, train our youngsters, and monitor our work for years. The hype round generative AI is now supercharging the unfold of those methods whereas residents have little perception into how they work, who income from them, and who will get harm.

Through the AI Accountability Fellowships, the Pulitzer Center goals to help in-depth, excessive-impression reporting tasks that doc and clarify the alternatives, harms, and regulatory and labor points surrounding AI methods. The Fellowship program offers chosen journalists with monetary help, a neighborhood of friends, mentorship, and coaching to pursue in-depth reporting tasks that interrogate how AI methods are funded, constructed, and deployed by firms, governments, and different highly effective actors.

Launched in 2022, the AI Accountability Fellowships have to this point supported 27 journalists from 5 continents. Previous Fellows reported on a spread of in-depth tales that provides a nuanced have a look at every stage of the AI provide chain and its actual-life penalties. Their reporting has triggered coverage reforms, sparked official inquiries, and impressed school journalists to begin their very own investigations and pupil poets to study AI accountability.

Benefits

• Journalists chosen as AI Accountability Fellows will likely be offered up to $20,000 to pursue their reporting tasks. Funds can be utilized to pay for data requests, journey bills, knowledge evaluation, and stipends, amongst different prices.
• In addition, the Fellows could have entry to mentors from totally different fields and related coaching with a bunch of friends that may assist strengthen their reporting tasks.
• Successful candidates will likely be anticipated to be a part of a compulsory 1.5-2-hour assembly held each month, contribute to at the least one neighborhood name throughout the Fellowship, and interact with different Fellows in digital conferences and on the neighborhood’s devoted on-line platform. They are additionally inspired to attend a month-to-month digital coaching session. Such collaborations and participation in coaching classes and conferences are necessities of the Fellowship program.
• Working and studying with a various group of journalists from all over the world can illuminate unexpected connections amongst tales and strengthen everybody’s tasks with new views. If you’re pursuing story however can’t commit to the necessities of a Fellowship, you may attempt making use of for an AI Reporting grant.

Eligibility

• Open to journalists from anyplace on this planet to report on the impacts of algorithmic and automatic methods on their communities. They encourage journalists from the Global South and from communities which might be underrepresented within the media to apply.
• While they welcome tasks on a broad vary of points, they’re searching for to help at the least two tasks on transparency and governance in relation to AI. This contains tasks that observe the cash throughout borders; make clear opaque and dangerous AI provide chains; or report on laws, enterprise practices, and organizations that exacerbate the dearth of accountability and transparency of AI methods. 

Application

To apply, you may be requested to present the next:

• A brief assertion of objective: how this Fellowship matches in your profession path and why you’re greatest positioned to be an Al Accountability Fellow. (500 phrases)
• An in depth description of the reporting mission you search to pursue throughout your Fellowship. Do not suggest common themes however suggest a concrete mission that exhibits some pre-reporting on the topic. A compelling, properly-researched mission proposal with a reporting plan will show you how to stand out amongst dozens of candidates. (500 phrases)
• A finances that lays out anticipated prices of the mission. Categories could embrace data requests, software program, knowledge evaluation, journey and lodging, and stipends. If your finances exceeds the utmost quantity offered for this fellowship ($20,000), embrace your different funding sources that may permit you to full this mission.
• Three examples (hyperlinks) of your greatest tales printed prior to now three years (not essentially on synthetic intelligence).
• A letter of dedication or curiosity from a media group(s) that may publish your story(ies). If you’re a employees reporter, a signed letter out of your editor or newsroom supervisor confirming you’ve gotten their help in making use of for the AI Accountability Fellowship. This letter ought to explicitly state that your newsroom will allocate time for you to take part within the Fellowship actions and the newsroom will help publishing the tales you produce by way of this Fellowship. It may embrace info on why your supervisor thinks you’ll be suited to this Fellowship.
• Three skilled references: These might be both contact info or letters of advice.
• A replica of your resume or curriculum vitae.

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to AI Accountability Fellowships.