Clare Duffy

Clare Duffy covers how powerful technology platforms and artificial intelligence collide with policy, safety and everyday life for CNN Business. She is a tech reporter for CNN and hosts the CNN podcast “Terms of Service with Clare Duffy,” where she explains how evolving technologies work and what they mean for people who depend on them. Her reporting focuses on social media, AI and the strategies of Big Tech companies, often through the lens of national security, youth well-being and the legal battles that shape the digital environment.

Social media, online safety and youth mental health

Duffy’s coverage of social media platforms centers on their impact on children and teens and the responsibilities of companies that build them.

She reports on landmark cases such as the nearly $18 billion settlement involving Meta over harm to children, unpacking what such rulings mean for how social platforms are run and how they may be forced to change. Her work follows concerns about adolescent mental health in the context of algorithm-driven feeds, connecting product design choices and engagement mechanics to broader questions about safety and regulation. She also covers national security dimensions of social platforms, including TikTok, examining how ownership structures and data flows translate into policy debates and spin-off deals that aim to keep the app available while addressing government fears.

Artificial intelligence dangers and safeguards

Duffy devotes a significant part of her beat to artificial intelligence, focusing on both cutting-edge tools and the risks they introduce. She reports on high-profile voices such as Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called “Godfather of AI,” highlighting his warnings that political and corporate leaders are not prepared to address the dangers posed by increasingly powerful systems.

Her coverage includes legal and regulatory fights tied to AI, such as a federal appeals court ruling that the Pentagon’s decision to blacklist Anthropic’s AI technology was lawful, showing how governments are starting to treat AI providers as critical security actors.

She examines efforts by companies like Nvidia to build safety infrastructure - such as tools designed to keep AI agents from “going rogue” - and probes how technical safeguards intersect with policy and corporate incentives. Duffy also reports on lawsuits that connect AI to real-world violence, including a case in which British Columbia sued OpenAI and its CEO over a mass school shooting, raising questions about warning obligations and how AI use should be monitored.

Big Tech business strategies and regulation

Beyond individual products, Duffy tracks the business strategies of major tech companies and how they respond to regulatory pressure and public scrutiny. Her reporting on Apple’s controversial decision to remove ICE tracking apps from its app store examines how platform policies can become flash points in debates about surveillance, immigration enforcement and corporate accountability. She covers how companies navigate government blacklists, multibillion-dollar settlements and new compliance requirements, treating these stories as windows into how Big Tech balances growth and risk. In her work on TikTok, she explains the evolution from early national security concerns about a Chinese-owned app to legislation that could ban it from U.S. app stores, and the legal challenges now playing out in the courts. Duffy’s stories consistently connect boardroom strategy, lobbying campaigns and legal maneuvering back to the users and workers whose lives are changed when a company shifts course or a new law takes effect.

Explaining how technology affects everyday life

A defining feature of Duffy’s work is the emphasis on making complex technology understandable and relevant to people’s daily routines. Through her podcast “Terms of Service with Clare Duffy,” she breaks down topics such as AI’s role in reshaping the workforce and the toll new technologies can take on adolescent mental health, translating technical and policy developments into human stories.

Her interviews and explainers walk listeners and readers through how apps, AI tools and platform policies work under the hood, then trace the practical consequences for privacy, speech, jobs and safety.

Before joining CNN, Duffy reported on industries including footwear, apparel and banking for a regional business journal, experience that shows in her attention to how tech decisions ripple across markets and corporate strategy. Across formats - articles, video packages and audio - her coverage keeps returning to the same question: what these technologies mean for the people who use them and the systems they depend on.