Dr Felix M. Simon works at the intersection of AI, communication, and society and is the Research Fellow in AI, Information, and News at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Before joining us, he completed his PhD in AI and communication at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), where he is a Research Associate.

His research looks at the societal impacts of AI, especially its implications for the information environment, the news, and democracy. Since 2019, his work has focused on the structural implications of AI for the production, distribution, and consumption of information and news and the effects of AI on our information ecosystem, as well as the use and reception of AI across countries. A second focus is on political communication in the digital age, especially the future of mis- and disinformation and questions of epistemic security.

His research has been funded, among others, by the Leverhulme Trust, the OII-Dieter Schwarz Foundation Fellowship awards, the Minderoo-Oxford Challenge Fund, the Tow Center at Columbia University, and Balliol College, among others.

He was a Knight News Innovation Fellow at Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism (2021-2024) and is currently a Faculty Associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Public Tech Media Lab. As a former journalist, he regularly writes and comments on technology, media, and politics for various international outlets (see an overview of recent news coverage), including as a regular columnist for NIKKEI.

Felix has published widely, including in New Media & Society, Digital Journalism, The International Journal of Press/Politics, The Information Society, International Communication Gazette, and the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, as well as in venues including the SAGE Handbook of Human-Machine Communication, the International Handbook of Internet Research, and the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. He has also co-authored research reports for institutions including the Reuters Institute, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, the Knight First Amendment Institute, and the European Broadcasting Union, on topics ranging from AI in elections to COVID-19 misinformation.

He has presented work at various conferences, including ICA and the International Journalism Festival and is an experienced moderator of academic and industry panels. His research and commentary has appeared, among others, in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Politico, Financial Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Nature, New Statesman, Business Insider, WIRED, CNN, and the BBC. He has given evidence to inquiries of the UK House of Lords and House of Commons, press regulator IMPRESS, and the United Nations, and frequently advises media organisations, companies, as well as non-government organisations on the topics of his research.

His work has received several awards and nominations. In May 2023, he was awarded the Hans Bausch Media Prize by German public broadcaster SWR in cooperation with the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Tübingen for his work on AI, news, and technological dependency. His article “Escape Me If You Can” won the Digital Journalism Outstanding Article of the Year Award in 2024, and two of his journal articles have been longlisted for the Bob Franklin Journal Article Award (2022–23 and 2024–25).

He holds a DPhil in Communication from the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute (with distinction), an MSc in Social Science of the Internet from the OII, and a BA in Film and Media Studies from Goethe-University Frankfurt. He is currently a fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar and an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and sits on the Advisory Committee of the Center for News, Technology & Innovation.

A full list of his publications can be found on Google Scholar and more about this work can be found on his personal website.