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FORNY20-FORNY2020

Factiverse - Searching for the Truth

Alternative title: Factiverse - på søken etter sannheten

Awarded: NOK 4.8 mill.

Factiverse's mission is to automate detection of misinformation and provide a credibility check for any online information by using cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing. The company was founded in 2019 by Associate Professor Vinay Setty and the TTO Validé, building on long-term research at the University of Stavanger (UiS) and elsewhere. Intellectual assets are secured and Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) confirmed. US patent number 10,803,387 (title: "Deep neural architectures for detecting false claims") is licensed exclusively to Factiverse. Additional protection stems from proprietary software code and future optimization gains from processing large data sets and learning from past patterns. The founding team has been expanded to include Madina Salamova (aka. Maria Amelie) in the role as CEO, a well-known journalist, author and business developer. While the team counted three (3) staff at the time of project initiation, this has been expanded to eight (8) staff dedicated to data science, front-end/UI, user experience/UX, testing and commercial development. Experienced board members and leaders from the media industry have joined the team on the road to market. The primary objective of the "Searching for the Truth" (literally and figuratively) project has been to de-risk technical development and accelerate market entry for a novel type of automated misinformation detection tool. A tailored fact-checking search engine is at the heart of the project; multilingual and aware of a range of heterogeneous sources, synergistically working with deep neural networks. At the time of project close out, the primary objective has been met by testing prototypes in a real operational environment (TRL 6) together with selected market participants. Letters of intent and a close dialogue provide for additional post-project commercial adaptation and agreements. The market for Factiverse has also developed positively during the project period, where the introduction of ChatGPT has given an increased focused of the dangers and economic consequences of spreading falsity, and for large language models to "hallucinate". The project has been delivered in close alignment with Validé and players from the media- and finance sector to increase the credibility and robustness of the implementation.

Factiverse has taken major leaps forward since receiving the POC award. The financial support from NFR has been instrumental in driving both technical and commercial progress. Highlights have been included in the already uploaded "special report"; detailing pilots, customer feedback, technical progress at the work package level, investments achieved, participation in accelerator programs, innovation awards received, and new employees and board members coming on-board.

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Funding scheme:

FORNY20-FORNY2020