Grant Will Fund Teams Working Together To Examine AI's Impact on Communities

AI technology in the Global Majority, especially in South and Southeast Asia, is accepted as a potential tool to disrupt the status quo: from supporting governments in disbursing pension funds, to helping workers reach maximum productivity, to building data centers to revamp the local economy. 

However, as the “neutrality” of current AI technology is being reinforced, human responsibility behind it is being erased. In challenging this, the Pulitzer Center believes in collaborations between journalists and practitioners from other disciplines to push for technology’s accountable design, deployment, and application. 

The Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Collaborations is a grant program that brings together journalists, civil society organizations (CSOs), and members of academia to spend four to six months working on a research project, investigation, or a public engagement initiative examining the impact of AI in their communities.

The initiative is designed to foster cross-sector collaboration by combining the investigative and storytelling expertise of journalists with the subject-matter knowledge, community network, and advocacy experience of CSOs and members of academia. 

Through a partnership, participants will produce evidence-based work that informs public understanding and contributes to policy debate on AI. 

What we are looking for 

We are seeking ambitious projects that combines interdisciplinary investigative journalism and strategic audience engagement to further disseminate its findings. Parties should have a track record of on-the-ground work, research, and reporting on AI accountability. 

The following are examples:

• "How We Investigated the Dating App Company Match Group" demonstrates how former Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellow Emily Elena Dugdale worked with a pro bono attorney to reconstruct the details of one case study for the report.
• Karol Ilagan (the Pulitzer Center's senior editor for information and AI) and Center Data Editor Federico Acosta Rainis’ investigation of Grab Philippines’ price-surging model included analyses by several statisticians to help strengthen their data. Taking this approach helped cover their bases to present scientifically-backed data. 
• Former Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellow Pablo Jimenez Arandia’s workshop series brought together journalists, activists, researchers, and impacted community members living near hyperscale data centers in Querétaro, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; and Aragon, Spain. The meet-up fostered knowledge exchange and strengthened networks among these groups, generating new alliances and synergies between local and external actors for greater oversight of the data center industry. 
• Journalism-inspired civic education, creation of informative tools to understand and challenge AI-based decision-making, as demonstrated by the South to South AI Accountability CoLab partners.
• "Paraguay’s El Surti Reveals Effects of Rising Temperatures Through Experiment With Delivery Drivers" shows that a collaboration between a heat scientist and journalists has led to a dialogue that sparked a ministerial-level recommendation on extreme heat mitigation.

 We welcome bold ideas on collaboration approaches beyond the above-mentioned.

 Key questions to address in your proposal 

• Project: What moves the needle or how to move the needle in making governments and businesses transparent, responsible, and accountable on deploying AI systems? 
• Methodology: How can journalists, civil society, and academics take advantage of and combine their expertise to achieve the answer to the question above? 
• Novelty: What original and unique approach/es will you be taking? 

Your application must include 

• A description of the proposed project
• A preliminary budget estimate, including a basic breakdown of costs. Three samples of published work connected to the issue proposed
• A copy of your curriculum vitae 
• Reference: an editor (journalists) and civil society/academics (individual for CSO/academic project lead). We prefer institutional partnerships with CSOs/academics, although we will approach this case by case. 

The partners are also required to deliver the project as outlined in their approved application. Any substantial changes to the project scope or timeline must be communicated to and approved by the Pulitzer Center.

Eligibility 

Grants are open to interdisciplinary teams of journalists, civil society, and/or academics. Each partnership must include at least one journalist and one member of a civil society organization or an academic working together throughout the project. Parties should have a good track record of reporting or research work on AI accountability issues or the impact of technologies on communities.

Projects must be based in South and Southeast Asia. Applicants of any nationality in these regions are eligible to apply.

Timeline 

Applications due for 2026 projects: August 27, 2026 

Interviews and assessments: September 2026 

Announcement: End of September 2026 

Project implementation: October 2026-March 2027 

Project reporting deadline: May 2027 

Budget 

A selected project will receive up to USD $20,000, depending on project specifics. Expenses may include: 

• Research and reporting costs, including travel and fieldwork; personnel or professional fees
• Data acquisition, analysis, and visualization
• Multimedia production expenses
• Communications and dissemination activities 

Operations and staff time allocation is up to 20% of the grant's total, but we will consider this on a case-by-case basis.

A more detailed description of the project may be added as an attachment. Applications can be submitted in either English or bahasa Indonesia.

Contact 

This is a closed call. Potential applicants may reach out to Karol Ilagan ([email protected]) and Maria Karienova ([email protected]).