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Sources and fact checking

This page explains where the facts in an article come from, how they are cited and checked, and what you still need to check yourself.

The writing engine is built so that facts and figures come from sources it has read, not from memory. If there are no sources, the article states no statistics.

How sources are found

The engine builds a source list before it writes. It uses these in order:

  1. Your own sources. Pages you added to the article, and pages you pinned to the project.
  2. Sources it finds. It looks at the search results for your keyword and runs a few more searches for evidence, including official sites for your country where it can.

How many sources the engine finds for you depends on your plan:

Plan Sources found for you
Free trial and Starter None. The engine uses only the pages you add.
Essential Plus and Pro Up to 6
Agency and Enterprise Up to 10

The engine reads each page and keeps only text that looks like real content. It drops menus, link labels and photo credits. It cuts the text into passages of about 120 to 220 words. Each source gets a number, such as source 1, and the article cites that number next to the sentence it supports. Any text on a page that tries to give instructions to an AI is removed.

What it will not use

  • Pages from sites that ask robots not to read them. These appear under "could not be read" with the reason.
  • A site's front page, unless you add it yourself.
  • Another country's government site as the local rule. It can add context but is treated as media, not as the official rule for your country.
  • Sites on the site owner's block list.
  • Pages with too little text.

For health, money, legal and safety topics, the engine takes figures only from official, academic and industry sources, and from your own pages.

Sources are grouped by how much weight they carry: official, academic, industry, reputable media, other, and your own. The Sources tab shows each source's group.

If a source also ranks for the same search, the Sources tab says so. It is never the only support for a figure.

The Sources list

Open an article and select the Sources tab.

It shows:

  • Each source with its number, title, website, group, who added it (you or the engine), how many passages were kept, and its date if the page gave one.
  • Any warnings from the research, such as a source that looks out of date.
  • "Left out of this article": sources you excluded. Select "Use again" to bring one back.
  • "Could not be read": pages the engine tried and failed to read, with the reason.

You can:

  1. Add a page you trust. Paste the address under "Your sources for the next run" and press "Add". It is read and cited the next time you rebuild or refresh the article. In the new-article wizard you can add up to 10 of your own sources.
  2. Upload a document. PDF, Word or text files up to 10 MB work.
  3. Pin to project. This keeps a source for every article in the project.
  4. Exclude. This removes a source from the article.

While an outline is waiting for your approval, you can press "Find more sources first". The engine reads a few more pages, then plans the outline again on the wider evidence. After writing has started, add pages yourself on the Sources tab.

How citations look

You choose a citation style in the new-article wizard under "More controls": numbered and listed at the end, or the source named in the text. The finished article ends with a Sources list that contains only the sources the article actually uses.

The fact-check pass

After the draft is written, a fact-check pass runs on plans that include it. The Trial plan does not run the citation check. On the Trial plan, figures with no source are still rewritten as general guidance.

The pass works in this order:

  1. Missing citations. If a source states a figure and the draft used the figure without citing it, the engine adds that source's number.
  2. Each cited sentence is checked. A separate review reads the sentence against the passage it cites. The review never sees the writer's instructions. It gives one of four verdicts:
    • Supported: the passage says this.
    • Partly supported: the passage says part of it. The sentence is corrected to match the passage.
    • Unsupported: the passage does not say it. The sentence is rewritten as general guidance with no figure, or removed.
    • Contradicted: the passage says something different. The sentence is corrected or removed.
  3. Figures with no source at all. These are rewritten as general guidance. Worked examples that are clearly labelled as examples are kept.

Open the Fact-check tab to see every cited sentence, its verdict, and the quote from the source that was used. Select "Open the source" to read it yourself.

If you edit the text, sentences with new citations are checked again when the article is scored. See How scoring works. The check "every fact has a source that supports it" blocks "ready to publish" until unsupported figures are fixed.

What you still need to check

The fact-check lowers the risk of mistakes. It does not remove it. A source can be wrong. The review can misread a source. Before you publish:

  1. Read the whole article.
  2. Check facts, names, prices, dates, quotes and claims about people and businesses.
  3. Open the sources behind anything that matters.
  4. Fix or remove anything inaccurate, misleading or not yours to say.
  5. For health, money, legal and safety topics, have a qualified person review the article.

You are responsible for every article you publish. The AI content policy sets this out in full.

Your own stories, quotes and photos, added through the Experience page at /app/vault, must be material you have the right to use. Get permission before you use a customer's story or photo.