The Financial Times has appointed its first artificial intelligence editor as it wants to “provide authoritative analysis on AI developments and the implications for business and society”.
Madhumita Murgia will write across the FT about the business, companies, policy and science behind AI as the newspaper’s lead correspondent on the subject, reporting to the tech desk.
She will also work alongside technology news editor Murad Ahmed to develop the newspaper’s coverage and help provide expertise to reporters, especially those within FT’s San Francisco bureau of tech reporters, who increasingly encounter stories about how AI is upending various industries.
Murgia said she hoped to “shape the FT’s reporting to deliver world-leading coverage of this technology that’s going to disrupt all our lives”.
FT editor Roula Khalaf said: “AI is a transformative, cross-cutting technology that requires a singular focus, and the FT is well positioned to provide authoritative analysis on AI developments and the implications for business and society.
“Madhumita is an outstanding journalist with a track record of high-impact stories in the technology sector. I look forward to seeing what will come next in her new role.”
Murgia moves into the newly created role following several years as European technology correspondent. Before joining the FT in 2016, she was tech editor at the Telegraph and associate editor at Wired UK.
Murgia was shortlisted in the Technology Journalism category at the British Journalism Awards in 2020 and 2021.
The launch of AI chatbot ChatGPT towards the end of 2022 caused waves including how its use could affect areas such as journalism and education, while over the past week alone Google and Bing have both unveiled their plans for using AI in search. Buzzfeed has revealed it would use technology from ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI to create personalised content.
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