Confirm News by Talking to Someone Locally Using This App
The past year has led to many accusations of “fake news” and attempts by most of us to verify what we read, the truth, before believing it. The new app is trying to bridge the gap between finding news and authenticating news using artificial intelligence and human verification.
The app, called Ground, links to news from major publications such as CNN, The New York Times and Reuters, as well as news-related posts from social networks such as Reddit, Twitter and Instagram overlaid on a map, making it easy to find. … This means that you can type what you read in your hometown or any other city you want.
When you log in, you have the option to provide ground access to your location so that it can provide local news. You can also customize the new categories that interest you most by choosing from a list that includes Science & Technology, Politics, Sports, Business & Media, and Arts.
Looking at my home in San Francisco, today there is news from a small local newspaper about our upcoming elections and power price hikes, as well as stories from major publications like ESPN discussing Warriors.
You can sort stories by “most popular” news, latest additions, and stories tailored specifically to your interests.
When you click on a specific story, you can see a link to the news source so you can read the entire story. You can also respond to a topic with a “Disappointed”, “Good News”, “I’m With You” or “Suspicious” button and comment on the news, which presumably triggers a discussion with people in the vicinity.
For example, when I pulled a story from the San Francisco Chronicle about a Whole Foods delivery delay in the city, it said there were 11 people in the area that I could ask about the story. I did it but didn’t get an answer. Plus, Whole Foods is probably not exactly a hateful issue.
The idea behind the chat function is that if you see something questionable, you can ask someone who the app has verified actually exists to get answers. The question of who they are talking to or not is undoubtedly up for debate, but you know that when someone says “Yes, this is really happening,” they are doing it from the place in question, and not somewhere in Russia.
To be honest, this is a pretty nifty way of getting news, and while I probably wouldn’t use this chat feature often, I find it very useful during major breaking news events in the future, where the difference between facts and fiction is a little blurry in mainstream media.