AI Accountability Fellowships — Fellowship

The AI Accountability Fellowships are run by the Pulitzer Center under its AI Accountability Network, which launched in 2022 to expand and diversify the field of journalists reporting on artificial intelligence in the public interest. Each year the Center selects eight to 10 staff or freelance journalists from around the world to spend 10 months on an in-depth reporting project examining how governments and corporations use predictive, generative, and surveillance technologies in areas such as policing, medicine, social welfare, criminal justice, and hiring. The Fellowship is fully remote — Fellows stay in their own newsrooms and countries and publish through their own outlets, which retain total editorial independence. The 2026-2027 cycle is the fifth cohort; over its first four years the program supported 35 journalists from five continents, and Fellows’ work has prompted new legislation in Brazil and surfaced evidence used in lawsuits. Starting with this cohort, each Fellowship also funds an engagement plan to bring the investigation to strategic audiences beyond publication.

Benefits & funding

Up to $25,000 per Fellow, paid in three installments: up to $20,000 for reporting and $5,000 for engagement activities.
Funds cover records requests, travel, data analysis, software, and similar project costs; engagement funds can cover venues, printing, and social media promotion.
Freelancers may budget up to one third of the total as a personal stipend; newsrooms are expected to keep paying staff salaries.
Mentorship from the Pulitzer Center network plus training by university and NGO researchers, legal and public records experts, and journalists.
Pro bono legal and public-records access support.
A peer community of Fellows that continues beyond the Fellowship year.

Eligibility

Staff or freelance journalists working in any format — print, radio, video, or multimedia.
Open worldwide: Fellows can be based anywhere, and the Fellowship is remote.
Fellowship meetings and training run in English, but Fellows may publish in any language.
No AI-beat experience required; a track record of in-depth, impactful reporting matters more, and investigative, data, or explanatory experience is valued.
Applicants must propose a concrete AI accountability reporting project with evidence of pre-reporting, plus an engagement plan.
A letter of commitment from a publishing outlet is required; staff reporters need a signed letter from their editor allocating time for the Fellowship.
Small teams may apply with one lead person as the Fellow.
Fellows must commit to a mandatory 1.5-2 hour monthly meeting, at least one community call, and sharing of methodologies and lessons learned.

Can you apply?

Open to all applicants

No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.

We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.

Application process

1
Prepare a 500-word statement of purpose on how the Fellowship fits your career path.
2
Write a 500-word detailed description of a concrete reporting project, showing pre-reporting, hypotheses, data sources, and methodology.
3
Draft an engagement plan describing activities that will bring the reporting to the audiences who most need it.
4
Build a budget covering anticipated costs (records requests, software, data analysis, travel, stipends); if it exceeds $25,000, list other funding sources.
5
Gather three links to your best stories from the past three years, three professional references, a resume/CV, and the letter of commitment from a media outlet.
6
Submit everything through the Pulitzer Center’s Submittable application portal before the deadline.

Program timeline

Applications for the 2026-2027 (fifth) cohort opened
May 26, 2026
Ask Me Anything webinar on the Fellowships
Jun 11, 2026
Application deadline
Jul 12, 2026
Fellowship starts
September 2026
Fellowship ends
July 2027