Nikita Roy

Nikita Roy is a data scientist, journalist, and Harvard-recognized AI futurist. She is currently a Knight Fellow at the International Center for Journalists, focusing on AI literacy in the news industry. Additionally, she leads the AI Journalism Lab at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, which was launched with support from Microsoft.

Nikita is also the host of the globally acclaimed Newsroom Robots podcast, which has ranked among the top technology podcasts in over 30 countries on Apple Podcasts. It is regarded as a “space for the news industry to actively discuss AI.”

Her digital news startup, The NRI Nation, has been incubated at Harvard Innovation Labs, is a two-time semifinalist at the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge and has received the Harvard Innovation Lab’s Spark Grant.

Nikita has participated in the ICFJ LEAP News Innovation Lab and 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.

She’s a frequent speaker and moderator at AI and journalism events. She conducts AI workshops for newsrooms and esteemed institutions, including the The Economist, 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.

Nikita is the President of the Canadian Association of Journalists – National Capital Region chapter.

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