Conversational AI for a journalism of verification and accuracy

During the last decade, we have experienced a digital tsunami that has generated tons of bits. Information and communication technologies have fully impacted our lives. We happily embraced new media to be better informed. But out of nowhere, the overgrowth of digital channels dramatically multiplied the amount of available content. And one day,  suddenly and without understanding how, we woke up with the feeling of being lost in an endless ocean of news. 

At the heart of the issue, however, it is not only the difficulty to swallow such amounts of information, but it is also that sensation of chaos. The doubts that assail us. This is the major problem.

Is this fact relevant for me? Is it true what they are telling me? Are they sharing with me the complete story or only a part? Why do I hear so often about the same matter? Is this a fake news? Should I really pay attention to it? 

Being information so accessible, it is remarkable that we feel so confused, as if we drifted away from reality through a sea of doubts. In this context, terms like disinformation, misinformation or fake news emerge in our daily life. 

The good thing is that we all, as individual and social agents, have mechanisms to re-orient. We build and rebuild. Although it is true that we can see ourselves one day choked by lies and fake news during breakfast, it is also certain that simultaneously, journalists´ organizations arise fighting against misinformation and disinformation. And there are more than a few...

Wealize helps ‘fact-checkers’ uncover and combat fake news with digital AI tools for a verification journalism 

Fact-checkers are now found in at least 102 countries – more than half the nations in the world. The latest census by the Duke Reporters’ Lab identified 341 active fact-checking projects, up 51 from last June report. By researching and implementing technologies that allow them to process great amounts of data, these journalists associations work in the pro of verified and accurate stories, debunking fake news and uncovering disinformation.  

At Wealize, we create digital products with real-world impact. We believe that technology should serve as a tool to construct a better world. Providing citizens and media with verified and accurate information to help them act with criteria and in freedom is one parcel of this better world. We, therefore, found it so rewarding to work together with the Spanish gold standard fact-checker: Maldita.es. 

We assisted Maldita creating an AI chatbot for WhatsApp to automate answers to the user inquiries. The solution las based on our product coloqio, a conversational AI platform. The NGO Maldita not only fulfilled its mission, but also enhanced its service. The AI chatbot of Maldita has been honoured with the European Press Prize for innovation recognising the use of technologies in favor of true data and reporting.

Actually, this conversational platform was so useful that together with Maldita we decided to combine efforts and created the joint venture botalite, specifically conceived to help journalists and organizations to debunk fake news and misinformation. You can see here a demo video of how it works.

Conversational AI tools for Chequeado to fight disinformation

And we are very happy to see that more and more fact-checker communities trust Wealize to fulfill their mission. One more example is Chequeado, from Argentina. This is a website focused on verifying the public discourse, and fostering the access to information and open data. Chequeado is the main project of La Voz Pública, ​a non-party and non-profit foundation based in the city of Buenos Aires.   

We have adapted our product coloqio, a conversational AI platform, and created a bespoke solution to manage Chequeado communications with its users. Specifically, we have developed a semi-automatic channel in WhatsApp used for communication and data verification, everything from one only platform. 

Conversational AI platform and WhatsApp to automate and scale the news verification service

Using our conversational platform coloqio, we connect the Chequeado bot to WhatsApp Business API. Users send messages with multimedia news -text, audio, photos, video -. These messages are processed through coloqio for fact checking, they are then compared with Chequeado database to finally validate the information or debunk the fake news.

With this AI software for verification journalism, Chequeado enhances the management of services and automate the replies with the verification results. Furthermore, users have a functionality to consult a summary of the most recent debunked fake news. 

A powerful conversational control panel for a more efficient management and monitoring of conversations 

Now, personnel at Chequeado also benefit from a unique conversational control panel. From a sole conversational dashboard, they can search, filter or tag conversations, and intervene as a human being when necessary.

Various rules have been contemplated in the system to help classify the conversations through different menus according to diverse criteria, for example: ‘resolved query’ or ‘inquiries that need attention’. 

For many years, Chequeado has been fighting for the rights of the Argentinians to freedom of information and rigorous news. The fact-checkers used to manage manually users’ requests, data check-out and delivery of replies.

Now, with the supervision of the Chequeado team, the conversational AI platform coloqio interacts with the Argentinians verifying information and debunking fake news in real time.  

Joining forces to boost verification journalism, research work and cybersecurity

As we told you in "European Press Prize for Maldita: a story of successful chatbots", we have created a joint venture with this foundation.

Called botalite, this joint venture between Maldita and Wealize brings together the knowledge and experience of two worlds, journalism and technology - in this case Artificial Intelligence - to offer specific solutions to combat misinformation, boost research and support cybersecurity initiatives of companies, organizations and governments.

If your organization is interested in using technology to end misinformation and disinformation, and also improving the service provided to the users, at Wealize we have the expertise in developing bespoke conversational AI products, including conversational platforms and AI-powered conversational assistants.

We are looking forward to helping you to scale your conversational ecosystem to give the best service when fighting against misinformation and help fact-checkers in verification and research journalism through automated AI solutions.