3 verified, source-linked AI implementations documented between 2022–2025.
LLM categorizes and routes hundreds of weekly investigative tip submissions to the appropriate reporters while safeguarding source anonymity; developed by AI Engineering Fellows Dana Chiueh (formerly Minnesota Star Tribune 'Tipbot' developer) and Aaron Brezel as part of the Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program (OpenAI + Microsoft, $10M, Oct. 2024); operational Dec. 2025; CONTROVERSY: ProPublica Guild became the first US newsroom union to authorize a strike partly over AI protections (March 13, 2026) after management unilaterally implemented AI policy; one-day strike April 2026; union demands included no AI-driven layoffs, no surveillance of AI usage, editorial disclosure requirements and compensation/consent before published work trains AI systems
LLM-assisted analysis of Senator Ted Cruz's 3,400+ "woke" grants database to identify misclassified science grants
Self-hosted open-source AI for transcription and classification of hundreds of hours of Uvalde shooting audio/video to reconstruct law enforcement timeline
ProPublica is one of 182 organizations in United States documented in the index, which holds 363 cases from the country. Its work spans 1 function type, including Research & Investigation, documented across 131 organizations worldwide.