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By Almira Louise S. Martinez, Reporter
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot that helps Filipino internet users verify online claims as the rapid spread of AI-generated content makes misinformation harder to detect.
The web-based tool “Legit ba ’to?” (Is this legit?) was created by technology and communication students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines to streamline what they described as a traditionally manual fact-checking process.
“Fact-checking is a very manual human effort because generating fake news just happens way more often,” project lead and developer Lesmon Andres L. Saluta told BusinessWorld via Zoom. “It’s so easy to falsify a headline. It’s so easy to lie, and it’s now amplified with the rise of tech and AI.”
The chatbot, which works through Facebook Messenger and Instagram, lets users forward links, screenshots and social media posts for verification. An AI research agent then checks the claims against recent news reports, fact-check databases and official sources before providing a response.
Mr. Saluta said the developers designed the system to mimic the workflow used by professional fact-checkers.
“We thought a lot about how to build the fact-checking process, grounded on how a smart human would really do it,” he said. “We tried to mirror how the journalist organizations tried to do it before.”
The chatbot is also trained to recognize Filipino humor, satire, manipulated images and AI-generated content to avoid incorrectly labeling memes or jokes as false information.
“Filipinos have been really creative,” Mr. Saluta said. “Our meme culture, for instance, is really strong. The AI was smart enough to know that there is an actual truth here, but then a meme was made out of it.”
The Philippines continues to face challenges in combating online misinformation. A 2025 Social Weather Stations survey found that 59% of Filipinos consider fake news on the internet and social media a serious problem, while 65% said they struggle to determine whether online content is false.
Mr. Saluta said false information often succeeds because it appeals to readers’ emotions before they take time to verify the facts.
“Because we are overcome with emotion, we kind of don’t take that extra mile to read through it,” he said.
Since its launch on July 11, the chatbot has received more than 100 verification requests.
“We never set real targets; it’s more of wanting to do good,” Mr. Saluta said. “Just being able to prevent one piece of information from being falsified and causing harm to people would have made our efforts well worth it.”
The launch comes as lawmakers continue to push measures penalizing the creation and deliberate spread of false information that could endanger public welfare or national security.