The Fake News Challenge Puts AI to the Test - MediaShift

Long before Nov. 8, 2016, research scientist Dean Pomerleau was concerned about fake news. His Facebook News Feed had been filled with political disinformation during the presidential campaign, and he saw that the stories appeared to be influencing reader's attitudes toward the candidates. Though skeptical, he wondered whether it were possible to create a machine learning tool that could flag fake news stories, and discussed the idea with colleagues on Twitter. Then he issued a challenge: he bet that it were not possible to do, and asked his colleagues could prove him wrong. Delip Rao, the founder of Joostware, which builds Artificial Intelligence products, contacted Pomerleau and offered his help – and thus began the Fake News Challenge.