Several prominent news organizations have hosted journalist fellows whose salaries are paid by donor-supported artificial intelligence journalism groups, with varying degrees of disclosure to readers about these funding relationships. The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism places fellows with outlets including Bloomberg, Time, NBC News, The Guardian, and the Los Angeles Times.
The Tarbell Center aims to support independent journalism focused on AI, with its executive director, Cillian Crosson, stating that the organization is committed to demystifying AI debates and holding companies accountable. Tarbell asserts that its donors have no editorial control and that it does not accept anonymous donations over $10,000. Its funding comes from groups such as Coefficient Giving, the Future of Life Institute, the EA Infrastructure Fund, and the Survival and Flourishing Fund, all of which advocate for AI safety.
Coefficient Giving, a significant funder of Tarbell, receives primary backing from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who is also an investor in the AI company Anthropic. This connection has drawn particular attention as many Tarbell fellows have reported on Anthropic and its AI models, such as Claude.
Reports indicate that some outlets have failed to disclose these funding ties. For example, a Time article discussing Anthropic's AI model Claude, written by a Tarbell fellow, did not disclose the fellowship in the story itself, though Time stated that affiliations are disclosed in author biographies and that editorial decisions are made solely by its editors. Similarly, The Verge reportedly did not mention a fellow's paid fellowship when covering OpenAI and the Trump administration's interactions with Anthropic.
In contrast, NBC News has included a note at the bottom of articles by Tarbell fellows, specifying that the reporter is a Tarbell Fellow funded by the nonprofit and acknowledging when the funding group is also a subject of the article. NBC added that Tarbell had no input into the reporting.
Tarbell states that it requires fellows and their host outlets to disclose the support on the fellow's author page. However, the organization noted that fellows who are subsequently hired full-time by their publications are no longer required to maintain such disclosures, as they are no longer receiving Tarbell funding.