Contact: Dawn Ventura
[email protected]

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. –– The Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub), in collaboration with Snopes.com and powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), has successfully integrated generative artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize user interactions with factual content.

This partnership with Snopes leverages AI technologies, such as Amazon Bedrock, to enhance user experiences by providing concise, accurate summaries and answers to queries based on Snopes’ extensive repository of fact-checked articles. The 30-year-old organization is the oldest and largest fact-checking site online, widely regarded by journalists, folklorists and readers as an invaluable research companion.

Generative AI, which is capable of generating text, images, videos or other data using generative models, often in response to prompts, has emerged as a pivotal tool in digital transformation, capable of synthesizing vast amounts of information to deliver precise insights quickly. Recognizing this potential, Snopes sought to streamline access to its meticulously fact-checked articles, enabling users to find information efficiently.

“As misinformation proliferates online, it’s crucial to empower users with accurate, verifiable information,” said DxHub Operations Director Dustin DeBrum. “Through our collaboration with Snopes, we’ve developed a sophisticated AI system powered by AWS that not only enhances user experience but also upholds the integrity of information.”

Cal Poly students have played a key role in this transformative project. Under the guidance of industry experts and leveraging AWS services, students gained invaluable experiential learning opportunities.

The prototype uses Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies via a single programing interface (API), along with a broad set of capabilities that organizations need to build generative AI applications with security, privacy and responsible AI, for its access to FM companies to power the solution. The solution includes safeguards against misinformation by indicating when data is insufficient to provide a comprehensive and accurate answer to the user’s query. Further technical details can be found here, and the open source code can be found here.

By integrating generative AI, Snopes can provide users with accurate, citable sources while minimizing the risk of AI hallucinations — incorrect or misleading results that AI models generate.

This innovative approach not only enhances the user experience but also helps Snopes identify emerging trends and areas for new content. The partnership with DxHub has enabled Snopes to leverage cutting-edge technology powered by AWS to maintain its position as a trusted source of information in the digital age.

For further details, including supporting documents such as source code and architecture diagrams, visit: https://dxhub.calpoly.edu/challenges/snopes-launches-factbot-an-ai-service-to-fact-check-your-questions.

About the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub)
The Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub) is a pioneering initiative in partnership with AWS, located on the San Luis Obispo campus. DxHub aims to empower students with practical, real-world problem-solving experiences using innovative technologies to address challenges in the public sector. By collaborating with government, educational, and nonprofit organizations, DxHub develops solutions that meet the evolving needs of society.