Is it true?
Factual check with sources, confidence level and verdict.
Products · Communication
TalkCheck
Real-time fact checking during interviews. TalkCheck listens to a conversation as it happens, picks out the verifiable claims, checks them against online sources and shows the results while the exchange is still going on.
Access by invitation, through a link sent to authorised email addresses.
Three questions, one analysis flow
The decisive advantage. Shortening the time between a statement and the chance to check it, without breaking the flow of the conversation.
Function · Operational value
Is it presented fairly?
Detection of omissions, improper comparisons, data selection and other techniques that can make a formally correct figure misleading.
Is it consistent with the rest?
Check of the logical, temporal, quantitative and contextual consistency of the information given during the conversation.
Who it is for
For people who work with words.
Journalists and interviewers
Live checking, interview transcription, source research and follow-up analysis.
Investigators and analysts
Comparing statements, checking the consistency of sequences, rebuilding the context and analysing contradictions.
Professionals
Support during negotiations, interviews, meetings and complex discussions.
Students and researchers
Transcription of lectures, interviews and audio material, which can be looked up again later.
Why TalkCheck is different from an ordinary fact checker
True or false is not enough.
A simple true or false answer is not enough when the problem is understanding whether a figure has been cherry-picked, taken out of context or combined with other information in an inconsistent way.
Real-time fact checking
Checks start automatically while people speak, or the operator can request them when an immediate answer is needed.
Two levels of answer
A preliminary verdict lets you react quickly, followed by the full result with sources and confidence level.
Context check
TalkCheck does not look only at the single sentence: it relates what is said at different moments of the conversation.
1 · Live interview
The conversation can be analysed as it happens.
- Real-time transcription from the microphone.
- Recognition and separation of the different speakers.
- Automatic extraction of verifiable claims.
- A quick preliminary verdict, followed by the final check with sources.
- Automatic check every 15 seconds, or on request with a dedicated command.
- Fact checking, deductive analysis, translation and read-aloud can be switched on separately.
- Session summary at the end of the interview.
Five possible verdicts
Verdict · Meaning
True
The claim turns out to be factually correct.
False
The claim turns out to be clearly wrong or seriously misleading.
Partly true
It contains correct elements together with significant inaccuracies, omissions or distortions.
Undetermined
The available data do not allow a sufficiently reliable conclusion.
Not verifiable
Opinions, forecasts or non-factual statements.
2 · Beyond true and false
Recognising how a claim is built.
TalkCheck can flag techniques that make a claim persuasive or misleading even when some of the figures quoted are real.
Cherry picking
Picking only the favourable data and ignoring the data that change the overall picture.
False equivalence
Comparing cases that are not really comparable.
False authority
Giving authority to sources that are not qualified on the subject.
Manipulated numbers
Percentages without absolute values, different comparison bases or time windows chosen to mislead.
Overton window
Presenting extreme positions within a new frame of reference that changes how they are perceived.
Plausible but false claims
Statements built to sound intuitive although the facts do not support them.
The key point. The question is not only whether the figure is correct, but whether it is presented correctly and with the context it needs.
3 · Consistency check and deductive analysis
When each sentence sounds plausible, but the story does not add up.
TalkCheck can relate information given at different moments and detect logical, temporal, quantitative or contextual incompatibilities.
Example. “I left Catania by motorbike at 10:00 and arrived in Rome at 12:00 the same day.” Taken one by one, the times are plausible. It is their combination with the distance, the means of transport and the time available that makes the story inconsistent.
- Incompatible time sequences.
- Inconsistent distances and travel times.
- Quantities or values that do not add up.
- Inconsistent cause and effect relationships.
- Later statements incompatible with earlier ones.
- Conclusions that do not follow from the stated premises.
It does not only check the claims. It checks whether the story holds up.
4 · Prepare, dig deeper, question
Before, during and after the discussion.
Investigative analysis
Before a meeting you can research a topic or a person online, with sources cited, so you arrive at the conversation with a structured picture.
Question generation
During the discussion TalkCheck can suggest questions built with the Socratic method, to test a premise without immediately turning the conversation into a head-on challenge.
Follow-up chat
After the analysis you can ask the system about the conversation, why a claim received a given verdict, recall the sources or find the points still open.
Questions, with the Socratic method
- Precise definition of terms.
- Checking implicit assumptions.
- Telling correlation from causation.
- Asking for the supporting evidence.
- Analysing trade-offs.
- Checking edge cases.
5 · Transcription, audio and translation
From a recording to searchable content.
TalkCheck can also be used when real-time fact checking is not needed. An audio file already recorded can be transcribed with the speakers told apart and, when requested, put through the same checking chain as a live interview.
For · Operational value
Journalists
Interview transcription, identification of the relevant claims, checking and sources.
Students
Transcription of lectures and explanations to read and look up later.
Professionals
Turning meetings, interviews and recorded conversations into searchable text.
Researchers and analysts
Faster work on interviews and audio material collected in the field.
Interpreter and translator
- Two-way interpreting with automatic recognition of the speaker's language.
- Read-aloud of the translation, with echo protection.
- Continuous or manual mode.
- Contextual translation that takes the previous sentences into account.
- Translation of text, live voice from the microphone and audio files.
In the interpreter you choose the pair among six languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese, the same as live transcription. Text and audio file translation adds Chinese and Korean, for eight languages in all.
6 · Archive, access and control
Everything stays searchable.
Session archive
Full transcript with the speakers told apart, checked claims with verdicts and sources, audio playback synchronised with the text, later access to conversations and translation sessions.
Simple access
It works in the browser on smartphones, tablets and computers, with no mandatory installation. It can be added to the home screen and used like a normal app. Access is through a link sent to authorised email addresses, with no password to remember.
Configuration per function
Claim extraction, checking, deductive analysis, investigative analysis and chat can use different engines, to favour speed, depth or operating cost function by function, without tying the whole system to a single technology.
Web search and sources
Checks can run a real search online. Sources are cited with a reliability indication, together with the confidence level of the verdict.
7 · What TalkCheck does not claim to be
A support tool, not a judge.
TalkCheck is a tool that supports checking and decision making. The results show sources and confidence level because the operator must be able to check them.
- It does not replace the preparation of whoever leads the interview, the negotiation or the analysis.
- The final judgement always rests with the person using the system.
- The quality of the transcription also depends on audio conditions, distance from the microphone, background noise and overlapping voices.
In short
Listens
Transcribes the conversation and tells the speakers apart.
Identifies
Extracts the claims that can be checked.
Checks
Compares the facts with online sources and shows the confidence level.
Puts in context
Recognises manipulation and flags information presented in a misleading way.
Connects
Checks consistency between statements, times, quantities and context.
Digs deeper
Suggests questions, analyses contradictions and allows follow-up questions.
TalkCheck brings fact checking into the conversation, while there is still time to ask the next question.