AI, Journalism and Public Trust Symposium

The Pulitzer Center is partnering with the UC Berkeley Journalism School for an afternoon of conversations and workshops at the AI, Journalism, and Public Trust Symposium. 

After a workshop for students based on the Center's AI Spotlight Series curriculum, the symposium will open to the public, starting with a Q&A with journalists and Pulitzer Center grantees Garance Burke, Lam Thuy Vo, and Khari Johnson.

Reporting on AI: Ethics, Accountability and Human Impact

4:00-5:00pm

Join a conversation with AI Spotlight coaches and journalists about AI accountability and human impact. The journalists will share insights from their coverage of AI stories. Featuring:

• Garance Burke is a global investigative journalist with The Associated Press, where her accountability reporting at the intersection of government, immigration, and technology has sparked federal civil rights investigations, congressional hearings and a Cabinet-level resignation. Her Center-supported reporting
• Lam Thuy Vo is a journalist who marries data analysis with on-the-ground reporting to examine how systems and policies affect individuals. She is currently an investigative reporter working with Documented, an independent, non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities, and an associate professor of data journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
• Khari Johnson has covered artificial intelligence for the past decade, at first covering stories from a consumer technology approach driven by products and profit, but human rights abuses and extreme power imbalances turned his focus toward stories that examine how tech can impact society and the public interest.
• Jamil Smith is an award-winning journalist, editor, and audio host whose work examines how identity, politics, and culture shape public life and civil rights in the United States. He has held senior editorial and writing roles at publications such as Rolling Stone, Vox, and The New Republic. His reporting and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Time magazine—where he published his award-winning cover story about the film “Black Panther.” He has also hosted original podcasts, radio programs, and live events exploring race, politics, and social change.

Register here for the panel discussion.

Let’s talk about AI: A conversation with W. Kamau Bell

6:00pm

After a short reception at 5:00pm, UC Berkeley Journalism Dean Michael D. Bolden will talk with W. Kamau Bell about the current and potential impact of artificial intelligence on our families, communities and society. 

• Kamau Bell is a Peabody Award-winner, four-time Emmy Award-winner, documentary filmmaker, stand-up comedian, Celebrity Jeopardy! champion, Official Ambassador of the band Fishbone, self-proclaimed #1 Bruce Lee Expert (Non-Asian Division), podcaster, part-time activist, and full-time family man. Kamau is a two-time New York Times Bestseller with Do The Work! – An Antiracist Activity Book and Who is Government? – The Untold Story of Public Service. Kamau is best known for his CNN docuseries United Shades of America, his four-part Showtime docuseries We Need To Talk About Cosby, and his HBO documentary 1000% Me – Growing Up Mixed.
• Professor Michael D. Bolden is the Dean of UC Berkeley Journalism. Formerly the CEO and Executive Director of the American Press Institute (API), Bolden has had a distinguished career that has taken him from the New Orleans Times-Picayune to the Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle, the John S. Knight Fellowship program at Stanford University and API. He has worked as a local reporter and national editor, a teacher and nonprofit leader.

Register here for the conversation.