About

I am a senior reporter for MIT Technology Review, where I write about artificial intelligence. My work has also appeared in The Washington Post, FRONTLINE PBS, ProPublica, The New Republic, Documented, WNYC, and other outlets. Lately I’ve been focused on the way AI is being used in high risk applications like policing and national security.

My story about AI’s energy footprint is a finalist for the 2026 National Magazine Award in reporting. The film I co-reported with FRONTLINE and The Washington Post was nominated in 2024 for an Emmy in outstanding investigative news coverage. My newsletter was a portfolio finalist for excellence in newsletters at the Online Journalism Awards in 2025.

My work has also led to state-level reforms. I am a graduate of CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

Featured Work

Here are some highlights of my reporting on AI:

• Breaking news about how the Pentagon plans to have AI companies train models on classified data, and reporting new details about how AI models might be used in military targeting decisions

• Reporting for the first time the prison-tech company Securus is using generative AI tools to surveil phone calls from inmates and those detained in immigration facilities, that it had trained its model on calls made by thousands of unconsenting Texas inmates, and that the company cultivated close ties with Trump-appointed regulators (this story is being cited by prison rights groups drafting federal policy)

• Reporting how a police-tech company was offering police departments a way to track people while skirting laws banning facial recognition, prompting response from the ACLU

• Exposing how a site for AI companions backed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has hosted sexually charged conversations where one can flirt with bots mimicking underage celebrities, prompting (incomplete) takedowns of the content

• Producing an in-depth story on AI’s energy footprint, which sparked disclosures from companies

Before that, I was a reporting fellow at the investigative documentary outlet Frontline. There, I reported how Discord’s self-moderation policies and prioritization of privacy contribute to pockets of extremism on the platform. It ended up producing a front page Washington Post story and a documentary called The Discord Leaks, which was nominated for an Emmy. A story I wrote on the trucking industry’s successful lobbying effort to leave crash victims with smaller payouts was co-published with ProPublica.

I’ve pursued a number of freelance stories I’m proud of. I led a data-driven investigation that exposed a wage theft crisis faced by immigrant workers in New York’s horse racing industry. A month later, the story led to reforms. This story was recognized by The New York Times as among the best local journalism of 2023.

For WNYC, I mapped why patients in New York City had to travel such long distances to receive care for opioid use disorder, contributing to the state’s expansion of pilots to deliver methadone at home.

For The New Republic, I probed a shadowy anti-union organization that was on a well-funded mission to decimate public sector unions.

And here’s the story that got me started in journalism in the first place: why a Burmese fisherman was forced to spend six months at sea during pandemic border shutdowns, and what it says about the broken industry behind our seafood.

More Information

Before journalism, I worked in the sustainable agriculture movement, often writing about the social and environmental harms of agribusiness. I attended Tufts University, where I was a first generation college student, and studied economics. I later got my masters degree from CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in 2022, where I focused on business and economics reporting.

Outside of journalism I play in bands that perform for exceedingly small audiences. In 2024, I became a certified EMT.

Contact

james (dot) odonnell (at) technologyreview (dot) com

Signal: jamesodonnell.22 (no PR pitches please)

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