Media outlets host AI journalism fellows without consistently revealing funders

The nonprofit Tarbell Center for AI Journalism funds reporter fellowships ranging from $60,000 to $110,000 and places journalists at prominent outlets including Bloomberg, Time, several outlets and one outlet. Although the Center claims its donors cannot influence editorial content and mandates disclosure, many host publications fail to note the sponsorship, as seen with one outlet's piece by Harry Booth and one outlet's article by Robert Hart.

Some outlets, like one outlet, do add a note clarifying the fellow's funding source. Tarbell’s financial backers include Coefficient Giving, the Future of Life Institute, the EA Infrastructure Fund and the Survival and Flourishing Fund, all of which promote AI safety agendas. The Center emphasizes strict editorial independence and notes that fellows who are later hired full-time by their host paper no longer need to disclose the support. Currently, six fellows are actively reporting and all list their Tarbell affiliation on author pages.