My name is Kate Kaye. I launched RedTail, a home base for my journalism covering AI and tech ethics issues, in 2018. Within just a year or so of embarking on my RedTail mission, I was giving presentations at tech and journalism events in Houston and Vancouver, British Columbia, about AI ethics concepts, global approaches to regulating AI, and about how to cover AI ethics as a reporter. My work was cited by influential AI ethics group AI Now Institute, and I joined the inaugural cohort of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute’s summer research internship program.
Over the years, my AI and tech ethics-focused reporting has been published in Protocol, MIT Technology Review, Fast Company, CityLab, and OneZero.
I was senior reporter at Protocol covering AI and data until November 2022, when the publication was suddenly shuttered amid the latest tech industry downturn. Perhaps it was fitting; I began my reporting and freelance writing career in earnest in 2000, just in time for the dot-com bust. (I still remember when the print edition of the Industry Standard went from being phone-book thick with dot-com startup ads to a floppy shell of its former self.
I care about the impact of technology on everyday people and our daily lives, and I have approached my reporting through that lens throughout my career covering areas including AI and city surveillance tech, the data industry and data privacy, voter targeting, and mobile location data.
You can read and listen to my best reporting over the years right here.
Follow me on Twitter @KateKayeReport to keep up with my one-of-a-kind reporting and deep analysis of AI, data and the broader tech ethics movement. There’s also a @RedTailAI account, but I don’t keep up with it as often.
Who’s Paying for This?
RedTail is not monetized, nor does it have a business model. Stories published solely on RedTail, such as my in-depth coverage of Replica in Portland and my podcast tracking Portland’s facial recognition ban, are here because I did the work without pay. Despite its “dot org” and lack of business model, RedTail is not an official non-profit organization.
What’s Up with the Name?
RedTail has a multilayered meaning. When it launched, the mission of the RedTail project was to watch the AI ethics movement “like a hawk,” hence, the reference to the beautiful Red-tailed Hawk. It turns out the letters A and I are in the name, too, making for a clever-if-unintentional coincidence. In addition, the color red is often associated with danger. RedTail reporting, while recognizing the potential benefits of AI, also sees its risks. And “tail,” well, it’s a homophone for “tale,” and this is a place for journalistic storytelling.
A Little More about Kate Kaye
I was among the first journalists to track how political organizations use voter data and digital advertising (since as early as 2002). I wrote “Campaign ’08: A Turning Point for Digital Media,” a 2009 book covering the digital targeting efforts of the 2008 presidential campaigns.
I’ve appeared on public radio shows including On the Media, Weekend Edition Sunday (with Scott Simon!), The Brian Lehrer Show, Science Friday and Oregon Public Radio’s Think Out Loud. I’ve been interviewed by Slate and MPR’s Marketplace, and appeared on Fox’s Stossel Show and CBC Radio. I’ve spoken at events held by Yale Law School, Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab, ProPublica, Annenberg School of Communications and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
These days, after many years working in NYC, I live and work in Portland, Oregon. I’m an avid hiker and forest wanderer, lover and caretaker of raptors and other feathered friends, eclectic music nerd, and a die-hard New York Mets fan. But you’re most likely to find me sweating at the gym, cuddling my cat Zebby or in the kitchen cooking, baking and yelling at public radio.
Please contact me via email at Kate @ RedTailMedia dot org.