As artificial intelligence grows more advanced, the technology and the people making it are increasingly consequential. We believe journalism will play a crucial role in helping the public understand AI — and in holding companies and policymakers to account.
Tarbell Grants offers awards of $1,000 – $15,000 to support journalism on AI and its impacts.
We seek to fund established journalists to pursue original reporting on current & future harms from frontier models, investigate the inner workings of leading AI companies, and scrutinize lobbying efforts shaping AI policy. We are also excited to support explanatory reporting that helps the public understand complicated topics in AI.
Pitches we’d like to see:
- Harms from AI: How artificial intelligence is harming people around the world today, and how it might harm them in future. e.g. pieces on deepfake CSAM, cybersecurity, racial bias, and biosecurity.
- Investigations into frontier AI companies: What is happening inside AI companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Meta. e.g. concerns workers have about their employers, or practices that are silencing them.
- AI policy: Stories on AI policy developments in key regions, such as the US, EU and China, and how lobbying efforts are trying to shape policy. e.g. reporting on AI regulatory agencies and the difficulties they are facing; AI companies’ lobbying efforts; and other efforts to influence AI regulation.
- Explainers: Pieces that help the public understand complex topics in artificial intelligence. e.g. the difficulties of AI evaluations, or an overview of AI interpretability.
Anything else: We also welcome pitches on topics not listed here.
What we are looking for
- Experienced journalists: We expect most successful applicants to have a strong background in journalism, ideally in AI or technology reporting. Journalists with an investigative background are particularly encouraged to apply. We accept applications from both freelance and staff reporters.
- Neglected stories: We are keen to fund stories and investigations that will not otherwise be published.
- Readership: We hope grantees’ stories will be read widely, and by people with decision-making power. We encourage applicants to apply with a letter showing interest from an editor at an established publication.
- Impact: We care about stories that make a difference. We hope the stories we fund will lead to meaningful change in the world, whether that be raising awareness of an underdiscussed harm, or catalyzing policy change.
Please do not rule yourself out because of these criteria, though. If you have a strong story idea and believe you have what it takes to write it, please pitch us.
Grants will be evaluated on a rolling basis. We aim to evaluate all grants within a month. If your story is time-sensitive, you can ask us to expedite the evaluation process. All shortlisted applications will be reviewed by at least two members of our judging panel.
We have a finite pool of funding for our first tranche of grants. As applications are evaluated on a rolling basis we encourage you to submit your proposals early.
Application Deadline – Not stated
For more information, please visit Tarbell grants.
