The JournalismAI Initiative, an initiative of Polis, the journalism think-tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), in partnership with the Google News Initiative, is now accepting entries for its JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, which is aimed at promoting artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and encouraging implementation through focused innovation and experimentation.
Building on the success of the first cohort of the Innovation Challenge, JournalismAI has launched the second edition of the programme, which will run for nine months. The initiative continues its efforts to advance AI literacy, implementation, and experimentation within the journalism sector.
The programme targets small and medium-sized news publishers who are already exploring AI technologies. In this edition, up to 12 news organisations will receive support to leverage AI tools, enhance audience intelligence, and drive revenue growth.
Selected publishers will have the opportunity to explore a range of AI applications to enhance audience intelligence and revenue growth. For example, AI can be used to make subscriptions, memberships, and donations more effective by understanding and influencing reader behaviour in real time, through strategies such as dynamic paywalls, churn prediction and prevention, or personalised product and content recommendations.
Publishers may also explore new Business-to-Business (B2B) revenue streams by packaging unique insights and content. This could include creating premium subscription-based data insight services or using AI to mine and structure premium content and audience data.
At the conclusion of the programme, participating organisations will present the outcomes of their projects and share best practices for leveraging AI technologies within the news industry.
Applicants may work on an existing proof-of-concept or submit an entirely new idea that they wish to develop into a working prototype by the end of the programme. Ideas at an early stage or pre-launch phase, not yet live within the organisation, are particularly encouraged (see Application Terms and Conditions for details).
Eligible applicants include small and medium-sized news publishers with 10 to 200 personnel who are already exploring the possibilities of AI technologies. Applicants must have a verifiable digital presence, such as a website primarily providing journalistic content, and must have been in full operation with active recent content for at least 12 months preceding the call for applications. Organisations must be able to launch, implement, and measure the impact of the grant within a maximum nine-month period.
This grant is not intended for reporting or storytelling, and funding must not be used primarily to produce news stories, newsgathering tools, fact-checking tools, or misinformation detection. Projects should focus on leveraging AI for audience intelligence and revenue growth. Applicants must be willing to share business insights, collaborate openly with other grantees, track results throughout the programme, and submit a final performance report. Please note that only publishers primarily focused on news publication will be considered, and organisations that received grants as part of the first JournalismAI Innovation Challenge are not eligible to apply.
Grants will be awarded to selected organisations based on the scale of their proposed projects. Eight ideas will receive funding of US $50,000 each, while four ideas will receive US $100,000 each. Organisations will indicate the amount they are applying for in their application form.
Applications close on December 3, 2025.
For more information, visit: https://www.journalismai.info/programmes/innovation
