The Verified Number of the Week
Every week, we take the most widely repeated AI number, go back to the primary source — the study, the press release, the regulatory filing — and publish the gap between what the source says and what the web made of it. The number is almost always accurate. The story, rarely.
Next issue: Tuesday.
What the Blind Test on AI-Written Fiction Actually Shows
1.54 versus 0.97, on a scale that runs from minus three to plus three. Both scores are positive, and nobody could reliably tell which story came from a machine.
August 11, 2026
What the Blind Test on AI-Written Fiction Actually Shows
1.54 versus 0.97, on a scale that runs from minus three to plus three. Both scores are positive, and nobody could reliably tell which story came from a machine.
August 3, 2026
AI Writes Half Your Code? Nobody Actually Measured That
This week's most-shared AI number didn't come from a code repository. It came from a survey asking developers what they believe.
July 28, 2026
Nvidia's $100 Billion in OpenAI Became $30 Billion
Nvidia said it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI. The actual commitment is $30 billion. Nobody lied, and nobody ever went back to fix the headline.
July 21, 2026
The Verified Number: Golf, Data Centers, and Water
American golf courses use 4.6 times more water than every data center in the country combined. That number checks out. But it stacks today against tomorrow, and the water you can see against the water nobody's counting.
July 14, 2026
Number of the Week: AI and Older Workers
First installment of our new weekly column. Six headlines, one study. Senior programmers are leaving jobs more than before, but still less than painters. What AI is eroding is not a career. It is a premium.
Our method is public. The number is accurate until proven otherwise: what we check is the story. And if the source confirms the coverage, there is no issue.
Read the method →