The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism, a Silicon Valley nonprofit closely tied to the AI safety community, announced plans to allocate $10 million by the end of 2027 to support mainstream and independent coverage of artificial intelligence.
According to the organization, the new institutional grantmaking fund will provide awards to newsrooms and ambitious reporting projects. Executive Director Cillian Crosson told Semafor the fund will back investigative teams, AI verticals at national outlets, and other large-scale initiatives in both new and legacy media. The Tarbell said it aims to expand reporting on frontier companies and on how AI firms and aligned political action groups influence U.S. politics and tech regulation.
Initial grants announced include $480,000 to an NPR video podcast launched by former Platformer hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, and a separate $250,000 grant to NPR’s “Power and Influence” desk to broaden coverage of intersections among AI, politics, money, and power.
Crosson said, “We think that having resources at newsrooms is an important part of ensuring strong coverage.” He added that the new fund will not only increase Tarbell’s support but also make it easier to back a more diverse range of perspectives.
The Tarbell’s backers include organizations such as Coefficient Giving. Previously the Tarbell’s grants had totaled $400,000 over four years and focused largely on supporting early-career journalists inside established newsrooms, with individual reporting grants typically ranging from $1,000 to $20,000. With the expanded funding, the organization said it expects to issue grants between $50,000 and $500,000, though it may make multimillion-dollar awards for particularly ambitious projects.
In recent years, Tarbell fellows have been embedded at several major outlets and have published stories that exposed what reporters have characterized as reckless or aggressive actions by some AI companies and frontier labs. While the Tarbell provides funding without formal editorial conditions, it has faced criticism from parts of the AI industry and the political right that view its support as amplifying heightened safety concerns. Some targets of Tarbell-backed reporting, including OpenAI, have complained about the coverage and about financial support from entities associated with the effective altruism movement.
Semafor previously reported that cash-strapped newsrooms must weigh optics around external funding against the practical benefits of financial support and aggressive journalism that has produced legitimate scoops. Semafor found no evidence that Tarbell interfered directly in stories the organization funded.
Crosson told Semafor in a phone interview that Tarbell maintains two editorial firewalls: one between the organization and its backers, and another between Tarbell and the media outlets it supports. The Tarbell discloses donors who give more than $10,000, its fellows retain full autonomy over their reporting, and partner outlets are asked to disclose when Tarbell has funded a journalist or project.
Kevin Roose, speaking to Semafor, said Casey Newton had worked with Tarbell at Platformer in recent years and that the organization has been a strong supporter of independent journalism without inserting itself into editorial content. Roose said, “Their funding has been very useful in helping us get started. It was a way for us to de-risk going out on our own. We’re feeling quite good about it and we’re grateful.”
Why this matters
The new $10 million fund could significantly boost capacity for in-depth, investigative reporting on AI, shaping public debate and regulatory conversations. At the same time, the involvement of external funders and Tarbell’s connections to AI safety circles means debates will likely continue about how to balance outside funding with newsroom independence and transparency.
