How Factful works
AI Fact Checker for News Articles
Paste a news article and Factful checks each claim against independent reporting and primary sources, showing exactly what the evidence supports and where it runs out.
What an AI fact checker does
An AI fact checker reads an article, pulls out the statements that can actually be tested, and compares each one with independent reporting and primary sources. Factful News does this for any public news URL and publishes the result as a claim-by-claim report.
The goal is not a verdict on a publisher or a viewpoint. It is a time-stamped assessment of specific claims, with the sources shown so you can judge the evidence yourself.
How Factful checks an article
Every check follows the same three stages, and every stage leaves a trail you can inspect.
- Extract: the article text is read and the factual, testable claims are separated from opinion and framing.
- Retrieve: for each claim, Factful searches the web for independent reporting and primary documents, and reads the pages it finds.
- Judge: each claim is compared only with the retrieved sources and given a verdict, a confidence level and an explanation that cites them.
What the verdicts mean
Verdicts run from well supported through partially supported to contradicted. Two labels matter most for honesty: unverifiable means the retrieved evidence neither confirms nor refutes the claim, and not found means no relevant evidence was located. Factful does not guess when the evidence runs out.
Where an AI fact checker can go wrong
AI systems can misread context, and search results can be thin for breaking stories or niche topics. That is why Factful shows its sources, scores its own confidence, and fails closed: if there is not enough evidence it says so instead of producing a confident answer. Treat any automated check as a starting point, and follow the links.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Factful News a free AI fact checker?
Yes. Paste a public news article URL on the Check an article page and Factful returns a claim-by-claim analysis with sources.
How accurate is an AI fact checker?
It depends on the evidence available. Factful only judges claims against sources it actually retrieved, shows a confidence level for each claim, and labels claims as unverifiable or not found when evidence is missing. It is a research aid, not a final authority.
Can AI replace human fact-checkers?
No. Human fact-checkers bring reporting, context and accountability that software cannot. Factful is built to make the evidence behind a story easy to see and challenge, and it publishes a contact route for corrections.
Which articles can I check?
Any publicly reachable news article. Paywalled, private or heavily scripted pages may not be readable, in which case Factful says so rather than guessing.
How do I report a mistake?
Use the contact page with the fact-check URL, the exact statement at issue and your best source. Corrections follow the editorial policy.