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# The Lenfest AI Collaborative has additional funding. That's great for open source in news.
- URL: https://werd.io/the-lenfest-ai-collaborative-has-additional-funding-thats-great-for-open-source-in-news/
- Published: 2026-09-29T00:06:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-29T00:13:21.000Z
- Description: The Lenfest AI Collaborative lets newsrooms explore a new technology together - but more importantly, it gives them the muscle to open source their work and collaborate.
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: AI, Notable links

Link: [*OpenAI doubles support for Lenfest’s AI and local news fellowships, by Andrew Deck in Nieman Lab*](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/openai-doubles-support-for-lenfests-ai-and-local-news-fellowships/)

I participated in this program in my former role of Senior Director of Technology at [ProPublica](https://propublica.org). Because I’m no longer there, it’s no longer my place to say how it went / how it’s going, but I’ll summarize it this way: I have no regrets. The two AI fellows I got to hire are genuinely wonderful people who I hope to work with again, and I learned a ton from other newsrooms in the program.

If you’ve followed my writing for any length of time you know that I’m very far from being an AI fanboy, and there was never a sense that I needed to stray from the extremely careful approach that is appropriate for a newsroom like ProPublica. We did not need to use any particular approach or vendor, and most importantly, nobody ever asked us to do anything that would compromise the trust or safety of the newsroom or its community. (The idea isn’t to displace reporters, or any human; it’s to *potentially* give them new tools.) At its core, it was just an opportunity to explore a new technology in community with other mission-driven newsrooms.

It’s also a way for newsrooms to regain their confidence in sharing their technical approaches and code, collaborating with other newsrooms, and (sometimes) open-sourcing their work. That, to me, is a benefit that probably outweighs the use of any technology. Newsrooms *should* be sharing; they *should* be collaborating; they *should* be working together. Hopefully, even when the cohort is over and everyone has moved on to think about something else, they will retain this muscle. It’s important.