Founder & CEO · Newsroom Robots Lab

Nikita Roy.

Data scientist, journalist, and Harvard-recognized AI futurist.

Founder of Newsroom Robots Lab. Host of the Newsroom Robots podcast, charted in over 30 countries. Knight Fellow, keynote speaker, and one of FTSG’s 12 pioneers shaping the future of news.

Nikita Roy, founder and CEO of Newsroom Robots Lab

About

Nikita Roy is a data scientist, journalist, and Harvard-recognized AI futurist. She is the founder of Newsroom Robots Lab, an AI strategy and innovation firm for media organizations currently incubating at Harvard Innovation Labs.

She also hosts Newsroom Robots, a globally charting podcast on AI and the future of journalism — ranked among the top technology podcasts in over 30 countries on Apple Podcasts — and is currently an Emerging Tech Fellow at the University of Missouri.

As a Knight Fellow at the International Center for Journalists, Nikita led AI upskilling efforts across media organizations on six continents. She played a pivotal role in launching and leading the AI Journalism Lab at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY — a groundbreaking initiative supported by Microsoft — and serves on the university's AI Advisory Board. She has testified before the Canadian Parliament's Heritage Committee on AI's impact on media and cultural sovereignty.

A globally recognized keynote speaker, Nikita's expertise has been featured on BBC, CBC, Quartz, Yahoo Finance, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and Harvard's Nieman Lab. She serves on the boards of the Online News Association and the Canadian Association of Journalists, and is co-chairing the CAJ's 2026 national conference in Ottawa.

An alumna of Harvard University and the University of Toronto, she is the co-author of The Science of First, a book on how AI is rewriting the value chain of journalism. She champions responsible AI adoption in media through strategic advisory, product development, and hands-on workshops.

Selected highlights

Canadian Parliament Testimony

Testified before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on AI and the creative industries (October 2025) — on the collapse of search, the case for a Canadian data commons, and the cultural sovereignty stakes of foreign AI platforms.

Select speaking

Keynote · Nordic AI in Media Summit · Copenhagen · 2025

Back to First Principles

Aligning AI with newsroom strategy, structure & values

Panelist · Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum · Bonn · 2025

Between Efficiency and Ethics — AI in Journalism

Podcast guest · TWiT.tv · Intelligent Machines

Fire In the Hole!

With Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau — on conversational AI, niche journalism, and where the press is heading.

Speaking

Keynotes

Select internal company speaking engagements

  • Google
  • Schibsted
  • Bonnier News
  • Polaris Media
  • The Boston Globe
  • Harvard Business School
  • CPAC
  • American Public Media Group
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
  • dpa

Conferences

Moderating

Podcast guest

Book Nikita

For keynotes, board briefings, and consulting engagements.

Every enquiry reaches Nikita and the Lab directly.