Real-Time Fact Checking With "Truth Teller"

The Washington Post has announced a prototype news application called "Truth Teller", that displays “TRUE" or “FALSE” in real time next to video of politicians as they speak. The Knight Foundation-funded program automatically transcribes speeches and checks the statements against a database of facts. From the article: "For now, the early beta prototype has to be manually hand-fed some facts, and thus only works on topics it has been specifically designed to recognize. Since Congress has yet to pass a budget, and financial discussions are prone to widespread lies and misstatements, Truth Teller is being piloted on the issue of tax policy."

Comments

Check truth in political speech

[mwvdlee]

So basically they've made a static page with the word "FALSE" on it.

Re:Check truth in political speech

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to be cynical, but how will we know we can trust the machine?

Simple. Record a video of someone claiming it is reliable. If it says "FALSE" it isn't.

I have one already

[Jesrad]

... it's a sticker that reads "bullshit", you slap it on the screen permanently.

Joke aside, who will debunk the dunkers ? Everything we know is false, for vaster and more elaborate definitions of "false" as science progresses.