Open Call for Proposals for Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships

The Pulitzer Center is accepting applications for the second cohort of its Artificial Intelligence Accountability Fellowships. 

Governments and corporations use AI to make life-changing decisions in policing, criminal justice, social welfare, hiring, and more. If unchecked, these systems can harm some of the most vulnerable members of society, deepening economic gaps and amplifying the effects of racial, gender, and ability biases. The Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships support critical, in-depth reporting on the impact of AI systems in communities around the world and nurture a global network of journalists who report and learn together about this urgent, underreported issue.

AI Accountability Fellowships

The Pulitzer Center is recruiting six to eight journalists from anywhere in the world to report on the impacts of algorithms and automated systems in their communities.

The 10-months-long Fellowship starts in September, and it provides each journalist up to $20,000 to pursue projects. Funds can be used to pay for records requests, travel expenses, data analysis, and stipends, among other costs. In addition, the Fellows will have access to mentors from different fields and relevant training with a group of peers that will help strengthen their reporting projects.

While we welcome projects on a broad range of issues related to the impact of AI in society, this year we are also placing special emphasis on certain topics. We 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. 

The journalist selected for the shared fellowship with Digital Witness Lab will have the opportunity to be mentored by renowned investigative data journalist Surya Mattu, formerly with tech news organization the Markup, and his team, and to explore projects of common interest with Digital Witness. To learn more about the shared fellowship with Digital Witness Lab, please click here.

Applications for the 2023-2024 AI Accountability Fellowships are now open. The deadline is July 1, 2023.

Find more information here. Apply here.