How to fact-check claims with AI: a step-by-step guide

By the end of this guide you will have checked a claim against sources you have opened yourself, and you will know whether the evidence supports it, contradicts it or leaves it unsettled. AI tools help you gather evidence faster: an answer engine finds sources and cites them, a research tool digs into scientific papers, and media tools help trace a video or flag a synthetic image.

If you want to fact-check with AI, remember that the AI is a research assistant, not the judge. This guide shows how to use sourced tools to find evidence and then verify it yourself. It compares six tools from our Research and search category and nearby categories, using only what each listing states.

Key takeaways

• Break a claim into parts, use a tool that cites its sources to find evidence, then open the sources yourself. The checking is yours, not the tool's.
• The main decision is the kind of claim: a general statement (answer engine), a scientific one (paper search and citation context), or a piece of media (reverse video search or an AI-content detector).
• Detection tools return confidence scores, not proof. AI or Not's listing notes this in its limits, and Revideo only finds videos that sources make public.
• Do not publish a fact-check, or act on a legal, medical or financial claim, on the strength of an AI answer alone.

What you need before you start

• The exact claim. Copy the wording, the source and the date it appeared, so you check what was actually said.
• The original material. For media, keep the image, video file or link.
• Somewhere to record evidence. A document with columns for claim, source, link and verdict.
• Time. A simple claim can be checked in under an hour. Scientific or contested claims take longer.
• Difficulty. Moderate. The tools are easy, but judging sources takes care.
• Care. If the claim concerns a named person, health, law or money, have a qualified person review your conclusion before you share it.

Which kind of AI tool fits this job

Choose by what you are checking.

Answer engines for general claims. Perplexity answers questions in natural language and attaches inline citations, so you can see where each claim comes from. Paid plans add deep research and premium data sources. Use it to find what sources say, then open them.

Scientific and health claims. Undermind searches scientific literature by following citation trails and returns a report with in-line citations that trace each statement to a paper. Scite shows the sentence around each citation of a paper and classifies it as supporting, contrasting or mentioning, which helps when a claim rests on one study.

Video and image provenance. Revideo is a reverse video search. You upload a file or paste a link, and it compares frames with videos found online, so a copy can still turn up after cropping or trimming. AI or Not estimates whether text, images, audio, music or video were made by a generative model and returns confidence scores.

Newsroom workflow. Symbolic.ai is a publishing workspace for newsrooms and communications teams, where you research sources, verify claims against them and use fact check and edit check actions in the editor.

Step 1: Pin down the exact claim

You end with a single, testable statement and a note of where it came from.

1. Quote the claim exactly, including numbers, names and dates.
2. Split compound claims into separate parts, and check each one.
3. Note who said it, where and when.
4. Write what evidence would prove or disprove it, such as an official record, a study or the original video.

Check it worked by reading each part aloud and confirming it can be shown true or false.

Step 2: Find the original source

Many false claims are real facts distorted along the way, so look for the origin.

1. Search for the earliest version of the statement.
2. For a quote or statistic, look for the primary document: the report, filing, study or transcript.
3. For a video, run it through Revideo. Its Basic search is a quick visual check, and Deep Search covers more than 100 platforms and sites and checks each candidate with six methods.
4. Record the earliest date and source you find.

Check it worked by being able to link to the original rather than a repost.

Step 3: Ask a sourced AI tool what the evidence says

Now gather evidence from sources, with citations you can follow.

1. Put the claim into Perplexity as a neutral question, not as a statement you want confirmed.
2. For scientific claims, describe the topic to Undermind, answer its follow-up questions, and read the report.
3. Ask for evidence on both sides. Note which sources are primary and which are commentary.
4. Do not copy the answer. Collect the links.

Check it worked by having at least two independent sources for each part of the claim.

Step 4: Open and read the sources

AI can misread, so verify by reading.

1. Open each cited page or paper.
2. Find the sentence that supports or contradicts the claim and confirm it is not taken out of context.
3. Check the date, author and publisher, and whether the source has an interest in the outcome.
4. Discard anything that does not actually say what the AI said it did.

Check it worked by being able to quote the exact line from each source you keep.

Step 5: Check the research behind scientific claims

When the claim cites a study, check how the study has been treated.

1. Look the paper up in Scite and read supporting and contrasting citation statements.
2. Check for retraction alerts.
3. Look at sample size and design in the paper itself.
4. Be cautious when a claim rests on a single small study.

Check it worked by being able to say whether the finding has been confirmed, disputed or ignored by later work.

Step 6: Test images, audio and video

Media can be edited, recycled or synthetic, so check provenance and authenticity separately.

1. Use reverse video search to find earlier uploads of the same footage.
2. Run suspicious media through AI or Not. It covers text, images, deepfakes, voice, music and video and returns a verdict with confidence scores.
3. Treat the result as a signal. AI or Not's listing notes that detection results are confidence scores, not proof of authorship.
4. Look for corroborating context, such as other footage of the same event.

Check it worked by combining at least two kinds of evidence, such as an earlier source and a detection result, before you draw a conclusion.

Step 7: Record your verdict and publish carefully

Write up what you found so someone else could repeat it.

1. Pick a verdict: supported, contradicted, partly true, or unproven.
2. List the sources, with links and dates.
3. State what you could not verify.
4. If you work in a newsroom or communications team, a workspace such as Symbolic.ai lets you verify claims against sources and assemble publishing packages. Have an editor review before publishing.

Check it worked by asking a colleague to follow your notes and reach the same verdict.

Tools for this job compared

Tool	Good fit for	Pricing	Stated limits
Perplexity	Sourced answers to general questions	Freemium, paid from $17/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026)	Free has limited weekly usage and basic models; plan details differ between consumer and enterprise pages
Undermind	Scientific claims, with cited reports	Freemium, paid from $15/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026)	Free plan has standard rate limits on chats and searches; Enterprise features need a sales contact
Scite	Checking how studies have been cited	Freemium, paid from $20/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026)	Basic has no self-service REST API key; Scite MCP needs a paid plan, a trial or an enterprise license
Revideo	Finding earlier copies of a video	Freemium, paid from $8.5/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026)	Finds only videos each source makes public; uploads capped at 200 MB; unused Deep Search credits reset each cycle
AI or Not	Estimating if media or text is AI-generated	Freemium, paid from $5/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026)	Free plan includes only 20 AI image checks and $5 in credits; results are confidence scores, not proof
Symbolic.ai	Newsroom and comms teams verifying claims	Paid	Android app described as coming later; usage metered with monthly token credits

Prices and plan limits change, so confirm the current terms on each vendor's site before you subscribe.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Accepting the AI's answer as the verdict. Answer engines can summarise a source badly or cite one that does not support the point. Fix it by opening every source and finding the line yourself.
• Asking leading questions. If you phrase a claim as true, a tool may build a case for it. Fix it by asking a neutral question and requesting evidence on both sides.
• Treating detector scores as proof. AI or Not returns confidence scores, and its listing notes they are not proof of authorship. Fix it by combining a detector result with provenance and context.
• Checking a repost instead of the origin. A claim can change as it spreads. Fix it by tracing it to the earliest source and, for video, searching for earlier uploads.
• Publishing without review. A mistaken fact-check can do harm. Fix it by having an editor or subject expert review anything legal, medical or about a named person.

How we put this together

This is an evidence-based guide built from each tool's listing in our directory, which is compiled from the vendor's own site and pricing page. It is not a review based on using the tools. We don't rank tools, and nobody paid to be included. Some outbound links may be affiliate links; see our disclosure.

Frequently asked questions

Can AI fact-check a claim accurately?

AI can speed up finding sources, but it is not a reliable judge by itself. Tools can misread or cite sources badly. Use AI to collect evidence with links, then open the sources and decide for yourself.

Is there a free way to fact-check with AI?

Yes, with limits. Perplexity's Free plan covers search with citations, Undermind has a free plan, Scite has a free tier for public data, and Revideo's first search is free. AI or Not has a free tier with only $5 in credits.

Can AI tell whether an image or video is fake?

It can estimate. AI or Not returns a verdict with confidence scores for images, deepfakes, voice and video, and its listing notes that these are not proof of authorship. Combine it with a search for earlier copies and for corroborating sources.

How do I find where a video came from?

Use a reverse video search such as Revideo, which compares your video's frames with videos on search engines and platforms. It can find copies after cropping or trimming, but only videos that sources make public and searchable.

How long does it take to fact-check a claim?

It depends on the claim. A simple claim goes faster once you find the original source. Scientific or contested claims take longer because you need to read the studies. Tool listings do not publish standard times, so plan around your own reading.

Compare more options in our Research and search category. For sources on a claim you are writing about, see how to find real citations and sources with AI.