CompanyOpenAI

OpenAI commits $10M for local news AI program

Original title: The Lenfest Institute grows landmark program with expanded OpenAI support

Plain language

What it is: OpenAI is expanding its support for the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program with five million dollars in funding and up to five million dollars in software credits and engineering support. This program helps local news organizations adopt AI technology.
How it works: The program places full-time AI technologists directly into news organizations. These specialists work with journalists and business teams to build practical tools and establish safe policies.
Where it is available: The program applies to participating local news organizations in the United States, and will expand to include a wider range of news enterprises.
Example: At Chicago Public Media, AI-assisted translation workflows helped publish Spanish-language coverage much faster and transcribe old audio archives.

What it is: OpenAI has doubled its support for the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program, committing five million dollars in funding and up to five million dollars in software credits and engineering support. The initiative embeds AI engineers in newsrooms to develop custom solutions.
How it works: Embedded AI fellows collaborate with newsroom and business staff to build practical engineering solutions, share code, and adapt tools across organizations. The next phase aims to turn successful projects into reusable tools, frameworks, plugins, and technical playbooks.
Where it is available: The program is active across participating news organizations, such as The Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Public Media, with plans to expand to a broader cohort.
Example: The Philadelphia Inquirer developed Dewey, a tool for searching archived reporting, and Scrape, a monitoring tool that automates finding story leads from regional sources.

The headline and explanation on this page are based on OpenAI's post. The full details are in the original.

The Lenfest Institute grows landmark program with expanded OpenAI support