Brian Merchant, the former technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times, is joining the AI Now Institute for a project that puts the business models of AI companies under the microscope.
He will be journalist in residence.
Merchant was among the layoffs at the Times, where he had been for a year, in January.
Writing and editing for Motherboard, Gizmodo and other outlets, he has carved out a niche around the intersection of tech, labor and the environment.
Merchant is also the author of “The One Device,” a bestseller about the development of the iPhone that was named one of FT’s best business books of 2017. His second book, “Blood in the Machine,” is about the Luddites’ rebellion against the 19th century technology of automation and its modern-day echoes. His writing has been published in the New York Times, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, and the Guardian.