GovFacts articles are researched, written and checked by the GovFacts Engine, an AI system. People decide which topics it takes on and set the standards it follows. No person writes an article or reads each one before it is published. We say this plainly because you deserve to know how the information you are reading was made.
What the AI Does
For each article, the Engine plans the questions a reader will ask, retrieves source documents, and writes only from passages it finds in them. Each factual sentence is tied to its passage and linked to the source. Independent AI readers then review the draft, check each sentence against its passage, read the whole article, and review it for legal problems. How Articles Are Made describes the steps.
We regularly test and evolve our approach, using frontier AI models. We currently favor OpenAI’s models.
What People Do
- Set the standards, sourcing rules and priorities the Engine follows.
- Decide which topics are queued.
- Build, test and change the Engine.
- Read reader reports and act on them.
- Spot-check published articles against their sources, though not on a fixed schedule.
Safeguards
- An article’s factual claims are checked against their sources before it is published.
- An article that does not pass its checks is not published.
- Articles built by the Engine show their sources, and in the current version each factual statement links to the source it came from.
- Articles built by the Engine show when they were last checked and when the next check is due.
Images
Illustrations at the top of articles are AI-generated conceptual images. They are not photographs of real people or events.
Limits
AI makes mistakes, and so do we. For any decision that affects you directly, confirm the details with the official government source. GovFacts is a starting point, not a substitute for official sources or professional advice.
Older Articles
Articles published before the GovFacts Engine are in the process of being rebuilt to the current standard.