The Washington Post is making it easier for the American public to hold politicians accountable by launching a prototype for a fact-checking tool that determines if their statements in public addresses are true or false.

During the last presidential campaign, many pundits took to live blogs and Twitter to fact-check the debates live. WaPo's tool, called "Truth Teller," aims to automate that process.

A software program recognizes and transcribes speech into text, which appears to the right of the video. As statements are transcribed, they are run against WaPo's database of facts, matching keywords to determine if an assertion is accurate. If it is, a "true" label will flash above the statement. Misleading statements will likewise be identified.

Beneath the video, viewers can check the full transcript as well as statements that have been tested by the Truth Teller.







If you head over to truthteller.washingtonpost.com, you'll find six video debates on tax reform that have already been fact checked (and again verified by a human researcher). That library will grow over time. WaPo's ultimate goal is to turn Truth Teller into a live fact-checking machine, something it will test internally during the President's State of the Union address on Feb. 12, Cory Haik, executive producer of digital news at WaPo, tells Mashable.

In a press statement, Haik said Truth Teller was inspired by politics editor Steven Ginsberg, who wanted a way to instantly verify politicians' public statements. Its development has been financed thus far by the Knight Foundation's Prototype Fund, which offers up to $50,000 to support the development of innovative projects in news and information.

Image courtesy The Washington Post