Truth Predictor Software Will Fact Check Politicians

Posted on October 9, 2006

Reuters reports that Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes fact checking software that instantly validates statements from politicians could be available within five years.

Imagine being able to check instantly whether or not statements made by politicians were correct. That is the sort of service Google Inc. boss Eric Schmidt believes the Internet will offer within five years.
Politicians have yet to appreciate the impact of the online world, which will also affect the outcome of elections, Schmidt said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday.
He predicted that "truth predictor" software would, within five years, "hold politicians to account." People would be able to use programs to check seemingly factual statements against historical data to see to see if they were correct.
"One of my messages to them (politicians) is to think about having every one of your voters online all the time, then inputting 'is this true or false.' We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability," he told the newspaper.

You can already do it to a certain extent using clips from the video sharing websites and the many websites that contain transcripts of speeches and interviews. Schmidt also had this warning for politicians, "The Internet has largely filled a role of funding for politicians ... but it has not yet affected elections. It clearly will."

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