PopDesk uses AI tools, specifically Anthropic’s Claude, to help report the news. Below is what the AI does, what it may not do and how every story is checked. AI use is disclosed on every story.

How a story is made

  1. Watching the sources. Several times a day the desk reads the official sources (the streamers’ and studios’ press sites, record labels, game publishers, award bodies and public court records) and the headlines, looking for the biggest new story people are searching for.
  2. Reading the announcement. The story is built from the primary source: the company, the person or the court that made the news. Another publication’s report is never our source, and we never copy from one.
  3. Drafting. The AI drafts the story in our own words, with what happens next (the next date or step, in the US and the UK) and at least one useful extra: where to watch, key facts, a release schedule, a chart or a timeline.
  4. Checking. Every draft passes automated checks, then a second, separate AI review against the sources and our editorial policy.
  5. Publishing. Stories go up once they pass our checks: every fact traced to an official source, no rumor, and nothing about anyone's relationships, health or children unless they said it themselves. A story about a criminal case in the UK always waits for the editor. The standards review re-checks every story twice a day.
  6. Afterwards. Twice a day a standards review checks every story from the past 48 hours against its sources again. Corrections are made openly, on the story.

The checks

  • Facts. Every date, number and name must appear in a saved copy of a source.
  • No rumor. Stories with anonymous sources, “insiders”, speculation or rumor language are blocked.
  • People’s private lives. Relationships, pregnancies, health and sexuality are reported only when the person, their representative or a court has said it on the record.
  • Children. We never name or picture a private child.
  • Originality. The draft is compared with every source. If too many phrases match, it is rewritten.
  • Photos. Only openly licensed photos (Wikimedia Commons, Flickr Creative Commons) and official publicity stills for the title they belong to, each with its credit.

What the AI may not do

  • Invent numbers, names, quotes, dates or causes.
  • Quote anyone except from a primary source, briefly and with attribution.
  • Use material from behind a paywall.
  • Use images from search engines, social media, picture agencies or other news sites.
  • Make an AI image of a real person, place or event.
  • Appear as an author. Stories carry the newsroom byline, and the publisher’s name only on stories the publisher reviewed.

Mistakes

If we get something wrong, we fix it and say so in the story. If you ask us to correct or remove something, we do. See Corrections and Complaints and removals.