Why Did an AI News Show Take $480,000 From the Tarbell Center?

Kevin Roose says he and Casey Newton took a $480,000 grant from the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism so their new show, Machine Gods, could scale quickly and hire a team. The show is video-first, which costs more than an audio show. Casey Newton has worked with Tarbell for his newsletter for several years and has had a Tarbell fellow. The center never told him what to cover or how to cover it, has no editorial control, and will not know what the show covers. If it had tried to steer the coverage, they would not have taken the money.

Roose says the center wants to fund independent, rigorous AI journalism. He rejects the idea of a shadowy group steering people to fear AI. People are getting freaked out because AI is getting scarier. He and Casey Newton are not doomers and are not effective altruists. They are journalists and want a diversified funding base. The deal with every funder is the same: the money pays for independent AI journalism, and the funder does not get to say what they cover.