A fact-checking app Verifact has emerged top at the AI Campus Network Demo and Hackathon held last week at the University of Lagos by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
HealthMate AI was the first runner up, while AidCare was the second runner up.
Verifact got N500,000 support, HealthMate, N300,000 and AidCare, N200,000.
Participants at the training got hands-on tech training, equipping participants with the foundational skills needed to shape the future of AI for social good.
“This hackathon is not just about competition; it’s about creation. We are challenging students to think critically and build digital solutions to real-world problems,” CJID’s Executive Director, Akintunde Babatunde explained while addressing the participants.
He reminded the students that some of the world’s most transformative tech platforms, Facebook, Google, even the internet itself began as university projects.
Laptops were also donated to outstanding students to reinforce CJID’S belief that talent must be matched with tools and opportunity.
This initiative is part of CJID’s AI Campus Network and our broader commitment to training 10,000 tech talents across Africa by 2030. We are not just hosting events, we are nurturing the ecosystem for Africa’s next wave of innovators.
https://thecjid.org/ai-initiatives/ai-campus-network/ AI Campus Network – CJID
The CJID AI Campus Network is an initiative to train 10,000 young Africans in artificial intelligence, digital technology, and media technology by 2030.
The goal is to democratize access to world-class AI and tech training, equipping Africa’s next generation of tech leaders with the skills and tools to innovate, create jobs, and solve real-world challenges.
ABOUT VERIFACT
Verifact is an AI-powered news verification system to checkmate misinformation and give every internet user the opportunity to verify or detect the status of a news/claim very fast.
The product which will be available in the next two weeks is the idea of five 100 Level Engineering Students of the University of Lagos known collectively as BitNomads.
“We built it using SerpAPI, Google’s open source model that searches the internet. A user comes to the platform, types in a verdict and using Natural Processing Language, keywords are extracted from the text and the SerpAPI searches the internet thoroughly for related information,” a member of the team, Abiola Ayokunnu told Nigerian MediaAI Insight.
“We integrated OpenAI API. This generates a summary and conclusive analysis of the the claim the user inputs and sends it back to the user. The user can get 3 different status, verified, Debunked and inconclusive depending on the result.
“To reduce bias and increase accuracy, we integrated Google’s Gemini to double check OpenAI’s answer. More like a two step checking platform. This is part of our mission to ensure that the user is rightly informed.
“Two other nice things we did was to support multiple languages. User can input any language and will get a response in the same language. Also, we created a browser extension for the platform. Meaning when you’re on other applications or site, you can easily use Verifact without having to visit the website,” Ayokunnu explained.
Team members
1. Abiola Ayokunnu (Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering)
2. Abiodun Mark (Surveying & Geoinformatics Engineering)
3. Sadiq Teslim (Mechanical Engineering)
4. Fakorode Henry (Electrical and Electronics Engineering)
5. Esabu Blessing (Computer Engineering)
