Nikita Roy

As a data scientist, journalist and AI expert, it seems like Nikita Roy has an AI tool for everything – and she wants to teach journalists how to create and use their own. In her ICFJ Knight Fellowship, she will create courses to teach AI literacy and the potential rewards and risks of these transformative technologies. She will also focus on how AI can make community media more sustainable, including ways to increase revenue streams, audience reach and operational efficiency.

Roy hosts the globally acclaimed Newsroom Robots podcast featuring conversations with leaders in AI and journalism about the transformation AI is bringing to the way news will be reported and consumed. Newsroom Robots has ranked among the top technology podcasts in over 30 countries on Apple Podcasts and in December 2023, Harvard University featured her as a 'Futurist' for her work on the podcast.

Her digital news startup, The NRI Nation, provides news and community for the diaspora Indian community. It has been supported by ICFJ, incubated at Harvard Innovation Labs, is a two-time semifinalist at the Harvard President's Innovation Challenge and received the Harvard Innovation Lab's Spark Grant.  

Roy has been part of the ICFJ Leap News Innovation Lab as both a participant and a mentor, as well as a participant in the LION-Google News Initiative Startups Lab. She was spotlighted as a notable Canadian youth founder and was selected for Canada's League of Innovators Accelerator in 2022.

As a generative AI specialist, she advised on the product development of a cutting-edge generative AI-based ed-tech tool at the University of Toronto.

Roy’s a frequent speaker and moderator at AI and journalism events. She conducts AI workshops for newsrooms and has taught generative AI at esteemed institutions, including the University of Toronto and Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Her insights have been featured on Nieman Lab, Yahoo Finance and CBC.

Roy is the President of the Canadian Association of Journalists - National Capital Region chapter.

An alumna of the University of Toronto and Harvard University, Roy aims to foster the responsible and innovative use of AI in media, conducts workshops, develops AI products and advises on AI strategy.