Madhumita Murgia

Madhu continues to dominate coverage of the technology industry and has consistently been the most impactful tech journalist in the country. She is a masterful scoop-getter, this year revealing - alongside colleague Richard Waters - that Google was considering charging for artificial intelligence features in its search engine, the biggest change in the company's business model since it was founded. The exclusive was the result of weeks of digging into the Big Tech group's AI plans, and a story followed closely by her global peers.

As technology increasingly interweaves into our lives, Madhu’s fascinating investigation into the use of algorithms to decide who receives an organ transplant is testament to her journalistic rigour as she combines expert analysis with compassion and sensitivity. Madhu delves into the intimate life of Sarah Meredith who suffers from cystic fibrosis and discovers neither doctors nor hospitals decide who receives a transplant but a scoring algorithm calculated by TBS which decides whoever has the highest score gets one. Madhu exposes the drawbacks of healthcare systems across the world who use a predictive algorithm as few medical professionals seem aware of how this software works, there are no humans involved and no appeals process. Although the system was intended to make decisions fairer, experts highlight its racial biases and potential discrimination against younger patients.

In a feature about AI powered relationship coaching, Madhu explores the world of lonely adults seeking love and friendship who are frustrated by the isolating world of online interactions. To fight the loneliness epidemic, Ex-Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg creates a chatbot coaching users through personal and professional relationships using the same language models that underpins ChatGPT. She insists the app, Meeno, builds the users own skills and confidence to transfer back into real life and is not a substitute for human relationships. Madhu uncovers the increasing backlash towards technological solutions to social connection, through experts who claim it only adds a dystopian layer to an already unhealthy relationship to technology and further warps the user's sense of reality.

And in a Lunch with the FT interview with Helen Toner, a rebel ex-board member of OpenAI, she brought to life the dispute at the top of the ChatGPT maker. Through careful coaxing, Madhu revealed the alarming levels of mistrust the former board member held in OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman before his brief ousting, the most dramatic news event in the tech industry this year. The interview is a signal of the regard Madhu is held in by key figures in the industry, able to explain complex technical knowledge in an enlightening and compelling way that makes her a leading figure in the field of analysis where technology, economy and politics intersect.