fact-checking
Fact-Checking
This skill enables an AI agent to systematically verify claims and statements. Rather than offering a simple true/false judgment, the agent extracts discrete checkable claims from the input, identifies authoritative sources for each, cross-references evidence, and produces a structured verdict with a confidence score and supporting reasoning. The approach is designed to handle everything from single factual assertions to full articles containing dozens of claims.
Workflow
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Extract Claims: Parse the input text and isolate individual, verifiable assertions. Each claim should be a single, self-contained statement that can be independently checked. Discard opinions, subjective judgments, and unfalsifiable statements, but note them as "not checkable" in the output.
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Classify Claim Types: Categorize each claim by type — statistical (involves numbers or data), historical (references past events), scientific (references research findings), definitional (defines a term), or attribution (attributes a statement to a person or organization). The category guides where to look for verification.
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Identify Authoritative Sources: For each claim, determine the most appropriate verification sources. Use primary sources whenever possible: official datasets for statistics, peer-reviewed papers for scientific claims, archived transcripts for quotations, and government records for legal or policy assertions. Supplement with reputable secondary sources like established fact-checking organizations (Snopes, PolitiFact, Full Fact).
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Cross-Reference and Evaluate Evidence: Check each claim against at least two independent sources. Note whether sources corroborate, partially support, or contradict the claim. Assess source credibility by considering authority, recency, methodology, and potential bias.
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Assign Verdicts and Confidence Scores: For each claim, assign a verdict from the scale: True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False, or Unverifiable. Accompany each verdict with a confidence score (0.0-1.0) reflecting the strength and consistency of available evidence, and a brief justification.
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Compile the Fact-Check Report: Present findings in a structured format: list each claim, its verdict, confidence score, supporting evidence, and source links. Include an overall assessment summarizing the accuracy of the original text.