In its most basic form, we verify that data extracted from news articles matches what has been reported. So, when we extract the data "Trump, Speech, Alabama, Immigration" from an article, then it has to match the reporting in that original source, which may have included a sentence like, "Trump gives a speech in Alabama about immigration".
To avoid the verification process being gamed we split up the data and send pieces to random people across the across the network. So, someone may be asked "Is this article about Trump?" and the next person may be asked "Which state is this sentence about?". They may not even see the whole original article.
The amount of verification required depends on the data. Simple data, such as sports results -- coming from high-quality sources doesn't require much verification, and can be automated. More complex data requires human verification, but that will gradually be replaced by distributed machine learning.
If an article says Trump gave a speech, how do you verify with machine learning, using a blockchain, that Trump literally gave a speech?
I don’t really understand your business. It’s a business, but also dencentralised. Are you trying to verify if news is fake or not? Why do you need a blockchain or machine learning for this? Do you have your own coin?
>If an article says Trump gave a speech, how do you verify with machine learning, using a blockchain, that Trump literally gave a speech?
To do fact checking you first need to know what has been reported. We verify that a source reported that Trump was involved in a news event where he gave a speech, and convert that to data (For example: Trump, gives speech, text of what he said, location etc, with links to the sources). Anyone can then use that data combined with their own algorithms or external data to evaluate the quality of the data -- primarily by evaluating the sources -- to create quality scores for that news event.
> don’t really understand your business. It’s a business, but also dencentralized.
We are setting up a foundation to oversee the blockchain, but it really only exists to distribute the initial funds and to provide initial guidance, until on-chain governance can be set up. Companies and individuals run the apps that use the data on the blockchain.
>Are you trying to verify if news is fake or not?
See above. You can use the data for lots of things. Detecting fake news is just one application.
>Why do you need a blockchain or machine learning for this?
There is no way to ensure that the data is verified independently across the network, and stored in a censorship and tamper-resistant way without a blockchain.
>Do you have your own coin?
The coin (NewsBlocks Tokens) will be used by apps to pay for the data. The payments are then sent to the people who added the data, without any need for middlemen or news agencies, using Smart Contracts.
