III: Small: Collaborative Research: This project will develop ClaimBuster, an end-to-end system for computer-assisted fact-checking. This system will monitor live discourses, social media, and news to catch factual claims, detect matches with a curated repository of fact-checks from professionals, and deliver the matches instantly to readers and viewers.

For various types of new claims not checked before, ClaimBuster will automatically check them against knowledge databases and report if they are truthful. For novel claims where humans must be brought into the loop, the system will provide algorithmic and computational tools to assist laypersons and professionals in understanding and vetting the claims.

ClaimBuster, upon completion of the proposed work, is positioned to become the first-ever automated fact-checking system for use on a broad spectrum of factual claims. Its use will be expanded to verify claims in various types of narratives, discourses and documents such as sports news, legal documents, and financial reports. ClaimBuster will use database query, data mining, and natural language processing techniques to aid fact-checking.