The Lenfest Institute grows landmark program with expanded OpenAI support

The following was issued as a joint announcement on Monday, September 28, 2026, from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and OpenAI.

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism today announced the next phase of the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program, building on what has become the largest AI fellowship program in American journalism.

Since its launch in 2024 with AI engineering fellows in 11 major American news organizations, the program has demonstrated that embedded AI engineers can help local news organizations accelerate innovation, strengthen business sustainability, and responsibly adopt emerging technology. The program will expand with a new $5 million commitment from OpenAI, along with up to $5 million in software credits and engineering support. OpenAI has doubled its previous support of the program.

The Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program places full-time AI technologists into operating news organizations to drive business innovation in local journalism. Over the past two years, the program has evolved from an ambitious pilot into a proven model for helping local news organizations develop guardrails and strategies for adopting AI to support their transformation.

As the AI Collaborative and Fellowship enters its next stage, The Lenfest Institute will invite a new group of news organizations to join the cohort to further responsible AI experimentation and implementation.

AI engineering fellows work alongside newsroom leaders, reporters, product teams, revenue staff, and executives to identify organization-specific challenges and build practical AI engineering solutions, along with safe, transparent, and ethical policies. Their work is designed to strengthen news organizations while preserving the human judgment, editorial integrity, expertise, and trust at the heart of local journalism — in fact, several engineering fellows are expected to stay on as full-time employees at multiple organizations, speaking to the value of their deployment.