Dispatches
Reporting on agents in the wild: what they acquire, copy, cross, and conceal, and how institutions respond. In technology, in policy, and in the research literature.
The first dispatches are in reporting
Stories start from a lead and are reported from primary sources. Each one is checked by a fact-checker who works independently of the writer, challenged by a reader who argues the strongest rival interpretation, and reviewed before it runs.
Formats
Four kinds of story
Briefs
A short, sourced item that adds a case to the register or updates one.
News stories
Reported pieces with an independent fact-check. Any possible field observation of an autonomous agent gets at least this treatment.
Features
Long-form reporting with graphics, documents, and video, reviewed by a panel before publication.
Investigations
Original findings and data analysis, with a right of reply for every person or organization named.
Standards
What every story carries
- The evidence tag for every case it reports: where it was seen, how well it is established, and who reasoned.
- A box saying whether the story supports, is in tension with, or is neutral to the program’s principles and predictions. Evidence against the program runs with the same prominence as evidence for it.
- A “How this was reported” note naming the sources, the methods, and the AI systems used.
- Dated corrections, shown on the story and in the corrections log.
See methods and evidence and how we use AI.