Deadline: July 12, 2026
Applications are open for the Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellowships 2026. The Al Accountability Fellowships seek to support journalists working on in-depth AI accountability stories that examine governments’ and corporations’ uses of predictive, generative, and surveillance technologies to guide decisions in policing, medicine, social welfare, criminal justice, hiring, and more.
They seek to support journalists and newsrooms that represent the diversity of the communities impacted by AI technologies. The 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. They 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.
Benefits
- Fellows will be provided up to $25,000 (up to $20,000 for reporting and $5,000 for engagement activities) to pursue their reporting 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.
Eligibility
- Open to 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, universities, and public-facing events.
- Reporters can be based anywhere. The Fellowships are remote.
- Fellowship communication, meetings, and training will be in English, but Fellows can publish in any language.
Application
To apply, you will need 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 hundreds of applicants. (500 words)
- An engagement plan: what activities you could facilitate to maximize the impact of your project, and to ensure it reaches the audiences who could most benefit from engaging with this reporting.
- A budget that lays out anticipated costs of the project. Categories may include records requests, software, data analysis, travel and lodging, and stipends. If your budget exceeds the maximum amount provided for this Fellowship ($25,000), please include your other funding sources that will allow you to complete this project.
- 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, visit AI Accountability Fellowships.
