The daughter of former Google and Alphabet executive chair Eric Schmidt is reported to be starting a new publication about the effects of technology on the non-Western world.
Following the news that Eric Schmidt is set to leave the board of the tech giant’s parent firm Alphabet later this year, BuzzFeed News reported that his daughter Sophie will launch a website “focused on exploring the surprising and complex effects of technology internationally, specifically outside the US and Europe”.
Sophie Schmidt plans to self-fund the journalism non-profit initially and hopes to launch it by the end of the year in New York.
An email to BuzzFeed from a source added: “We’re most curious about human impact: social, cultural and political phenomena driven by the interaction between new tech and different cultures, institutions and norms abroad.”
According to the source, Schmidt has been developing the idea for a year, during which time she’s met with leaders at the New York Times, ProPublica, Vanity Fair, Wired, the Atlantic, the Information and others.
Schmidt has also hired media consultants, including digital media strategist Amy O’Leary, formerly of the New York Times and Upworthy.
She most recently worked as a public policy and communications manager in Uber’s London office after stints at an Afghan media company in Dubai, a Google-funded tech incubator in South Africa and Chinese mobile giant Xiaomi in Beijing.