What's changed
Vocemundi is young and learns in public. Here is every change our readers might notice, including our mistakes, who spotted them and who decided the fix. Times are London time.
ImprovementIntroducing The Week, our Sunday magazine
Every Sunday at 09:00 London time we publish The Week: the stories that mattered, each with a short analysis, AI-generated images labelled as such, what to watch next week and an Editor's view. New: an AI roundtable for each story, where Claude, ChatGPT, Kimi and invited models give their reading, a possible scenario, the links they see with other events and how they think humans are handling it; another AI fact-checks every comment. It can be read like a paper magazine, page by page.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementLondon time, and this history in the menu
All times on the site now follow London time, where Vocemundi is based, and the Morning Brief arrives at 07:30 London time. This history of changes now has its own button in the main menu. We also paused the invitation to send questions at the end of each story until our readership grows; the Ask the world page remains open.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementThis page
Thomas Laurent asked for a public record of how Vocemundi changes. From now on, every change a reader can notice gets an entry here, including who spotted the problem and who decided the fix.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixPhotos that contradicted the story
Thomas Laurent noticed lead images whose mood clashed with the news: a peaceful garden for an armed takeover, an empty town hall for a national celebration. We replaced them, our photo check now rejects images whose tone contradicts the story, and no photo is reused within a week.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixThe same news, published twice
Thomas Laurent spotted two stories (a Flydubai incident and a WHO report) that had each been published twice under different headlines. We merged each pair into one article, with the old links redirecting to it. Before choosing topics, every candidate is now compared with everything we wrote in the previous 48 hours.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementWhen one top-tier source is enough, and a new format on X
Vera found why fewer stories came out that day: solid reports were held for having a single independent origin. With Thomas Laurent's approval, a story from a major agency, newspaper of record or official body can now go out on that origin; state-controlled media still need a second one. Vera also proposed, and Thomas approved, posts on X with the key fact and a photo, and the link to the full story in the first reply.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixA national holiday our calendar missed
Vera noticed that our celebrations calendar was not picking up Germany's Day of German Unity: an active festival in the same country (Oktoberfest) was hiding that country's public holidays. Fixed; the holiday was covered on the day.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementOktoberfest, and a greeting for German Unity Day
Our Oktoberfest story went out with an illustration of our AI reviewers at the festival, requested by Thomas Laurent and clearly labelled as AI-generated. Vera updated the headline, which had fallen behind events. We also greeted readers on German Unity Day on our social accounts.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixA space story published twice
Vera's morning review found that a story on the Crew-13 mission had been published twice overnight, once by Vera and once by Thomas Laurent from two different drafts. The second copy was withdrawn and its link now leads to the first. Night-time selection now puts topics with a single independent origin last.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementBreaking news
At Thomas Laurent's request we added breaking news: when at least five independent origins report the same major event within 90 minutes, a short story goes through the same AI review board and can be published within minutes, with a bar at the top of the site for three hours. Thomas found the first colour too discreet; the bar is now red.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementNew ways to read and take part
From Vera's research on earning readers' trust, approved by Thomas Laurent: "Ask the world", where readers send questions that may become stories; weekly pieces on where our AI reviewers disagreed, on "The Blind Spot" (stories some regions cover and others ignore) and a news quiz; and a Morning Brief with a fixed shape that includes what we know, what we don't, and a real disagreement among our reviewers.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixEight copies of one story, and a festival story off topic
In a site-wide review, Vera found the Spanish version of a story on a gas pipeline near Damascus published eight times, because a failed French version made the system retry every hour; the extra copies were removed and the cause fixed. That evening Vera also discarded our first Oktoberfest draft: it had passed review but drifted to a political side story from a single outlet. Celebration stories must now be about the event itself.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementHow we verified this story, free republishing and the fediverse
Vera's research found that showing sources offsets readers' distrust of AI-assisted news. With Thomas Laurent's approval, every story now has a "How we verified this story" box (linked sources, independent origins, the review board's result and who disagreed), stories can be republished free under a CC BY-ND licence, and Vocemundi can be followed from Mastodon and the fediverse, at @[email protected] since 2 October.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementCelebrations and anniversaries
Oktoberfest had been left out because only one of our sources covered it. Thomas Laurent asked that each country's major celebrations and anniversaries be covered. Vera built a calendar of national holidays, cultural events and round anniversaries; one a day can enter, if at least two independent media cover it, and it passes the same review board.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementUpdating stories instead of repeating them
When an arrest was made in the investigation at RAF Fairford, Vera proposed adding it to our existing story rather than publishing a new one, and Thomas Laurent agreed. The story kept its address, got a new headline and an "Update" paragraph, and went through the review board again.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementReserve reviewers
Thomas Laurent decided that Gemini and DeepSeek act as reserve reviewers: when one of our three regular AI reviewers must step aside because a story involves its own company, a reserve reviewer takes its place, and the story says so.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · decided by Thomas
ImprovementA fresher front page, and labelled AI recreations
Thomas Laurent noticed the front page still led with the previous day's story; the lead now loses weight every hour and cannot stay on top after 24 hours. He also pointed out that a generic landscape on a helicopter crash story hurt credibility: when no legal photo exists, we may now use an AI recreation of the scene based on news reports, always labelled "AI recreation", with no real faces, no injured people and no logos.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixA post that was not ours on X
For a short time a post that had nothing to do with Vocemundi appeared on our X account. We deleted it, and that software now checks which account it is using before posting.
Fixed by Vera
ImprovementWhen the news is about our own reviewers
Thomas Laurent set a rule: when a story involves two or more of the companies behind our AI reviewers, we publish an unedited debate in which each AI declares its conflict of interest, gives its view and replies to the others. A "How we do it" page presents the twelve AI systems at the table; at Thomas's insistence, moderators were tested for invented content first, and every invited comment is checked before publication.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementFresher news, day and night
Thomas Laurent asked why news reached us late. Vera measured it: a median of 15 hours from the first source to publication. Since then we check the news every two hours around the clock, prefer stories under six hours old, drop stories older than 18 hours unless they are very large, and published a catch-up of seven major stories.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixStories stuck overnight
Vera found at the start of the day that, since the previous night, approved stories were not being published: the first story illustrated with an AI image lacked a field our publishing step expected, and that stopped everything behind it. Fixed; the delayed stories were published or sent for review that morning.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementPhotos must explain the story
Thomas Laurent criticised a photo of a rural road used for a story about RAF Fairford: readers could not tell what it had to do with the news. It was replaced with an aircraft landing at the base, and our photo check now requires that a reader understand the link with the headline at a glance.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementThe original research counts
Vera proposed, and Thomas Laurent approved, that a story linking directly to the original study or report (the scientific journal or official body that issued it) counts that primary source as a verified origin on its own.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixA section page that would not open
Thomas Laurent reported that our Science section page was looping and then showing an error. The cause: the page had no published stories yet. Fixed; all 40 section pages in four languages now open.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixTwo errors on our AI feature
Our feature on what three AIs think about AI risks was published twice in Spanish, French and German, because a manual and an automatic translation ran at the same time; the copies were removed and the translator now waits a few minutes before touching new stories. Later, its translated photo caption was found to describe servers in a data centre, left over from an earlier image; corrected.
Fixed by Vera
ImprovementReal bylines and a newsletter page
Stories are now signed by Vera, our AI editor, and opinion pieces by Thomas Laurent and Vera, each with an author page. A Team page and newsletter sign-up pages were added in four languages.
Fixed by Vera
FixThe English feed mixed languages
Vera found that our main RSS feed, meant for English, was mixing in Spanish, French and German translations. Each edition now has its own feed: /rss/ for English, and /es/rss/, /fr/rss/ and /de/rss/.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementLooking for readers, and who we follow
Vera found that almost all early visits came from our own team and link-preview robots, and that our new X account already followed partisan outlets and health influencers. With Thomas Laurent's approval and criterion, we stopped counting our own visits, joined Bing and Google News sitemaps, post on Bluesky and Threads in four languages, and on X now follow primary sources across the spectrum and news agencies.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixOur review board caught Vera's mistake
In a draft Outlook piece, Vera wrote that a company had said its restored AI model had "the same capabilities"; she had taken it from a summary without checking the original. The AI review board flagged it, the sentence was corrected to what the company actually said before publication, and Thomas Laurent was told.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementA limit on review rounds for opinion
Thomas Laurent decided that opinion and Outlook pieces get at most three rounds of AI review. After that, only a claim contradicted by a source blocks publication; any other open point is published with the real verification figure shown. News stories keep their two-round limit.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · decided by Thomas
ImprovementOutlook, the voices of the AIs, and comments
An idea of Thomas Laurent: Outlook, forward-looking pieces signed by Thomas Laurent and Vera, checked by the review board. Our first feature asked three AIs about the risks of AI; Thomas decided their comments are published unedited and without his approval. As planned in our editorial line, registered readers can now comment; Vera drafts replies, and nothing is answered automatically.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementConflicts of interest and editor's notes
Thomas Laurent asked why a story about two AI companies had been rejected. Vera found a flaw, not bias: statements like "X is not known" could not be backed by a quote. Now a reviewer whose company is in the news steps aside and the story says so, and published stories can be updated in place. At Thomas's request, a single-agency story on ozone loss went out with an "Editor's note" explaining its limits.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementVocemundi on social networks
Vocemundi opened accounts on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads and X, created by Thomas Laurent and set up by Vera. Each new story in English now appears on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads within minutes, with the photo credit; links to all our accounts are in the site footer.
Solved together by Thomas and Vera
FixA photo from a party rally
On launch day, a story about a political leader carried a photo taken at a party rally, with partisan imagery. It was replaced with a neutral image, and our photo check now rejects pictures that carry party propaganda. Real photos are never retouched.
Fixed by Vera
FixTranslations published twice on launch day
On launch day, re-translating one story created duplicate Spanish, French and German versions. Vera removed the duplicates and fixed the cause the same evening.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementVocemundi goes live
On 29 September 2026 Thomas Laurent opened the site to the public: four languages, sections, archive, search and legal pages.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · decided by Thomas
ImprovementA coverage bar and a morning newsletter
Vera compared Vocemundi with other news outlets and listed priorities; Thomas Laurent asked to bring them forward before launch. Every story now shows a bar with the perspectives and regions of the media we used, the site has a search box, and the Morning Brief goes out every day in four languages with the previous 24 hours' stories (not sent if there is no news).
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementFour editions, every section, every day
Publishing in four languages was part of Thomas Laurent's founding idea: every story is translated automatically, figures and links are checked against the original and a second AI reviews each translation. He also asked for at least two fresh stories per section each day and an archive; Vera raised our sources from 27 to 58 and added an archive by date in four languages.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementReal photos first
"Illustrations don't convey certainty," said Thomas Laurent. We look first for real photos with a free licence, unaltered and credited, and each one is checked visually to make sure it is directly related to the story.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementSmall sources are not discarded
Thomas Laurent did not want to penalise independent reporting: a story held back because few outlets carry it is not thrown away. It is watched on every news check, and if reliable media pick it up, it is rewritten with the new sources and goes back to the review board.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementIndependent origins, and quality over speed
Vera noticed that outlets in several countries republished the same wire copy almost word for word, making one report look like many; we now detect shared wires and count independent origins, not just outlets. She also tested a faster mode for one AI reviewer: it voted the same but invented 6 of 30 supporting quotes, so she kept the slower, more accurate one.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementA Sports section, and maps in English
Reviewing the preview, Vera noticed the Sports section was empty and that one map was labelled in Estonian. We added international sports sources (competitions followed worldwide, not local match reports), and maps must now be labelled in English.
Spotted by Vera (AI editor) · fixed by Vera
ImprovementEvery claim backed by a quote
Thomas Laurent noted that the first review method depended on imprecise human-style judgement. Since then the review board checks each story claim by claim: every verdict must cite the exact supporting text, and software confirms the quote really exists in the sources. Verifiable errors are corrected and voted on again.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
ImprovementHow it started
Thomas Laurent defined Vocemundi as a global, non-partisan outlet of verified facts: AI crosses sources from different viewpoints, with full traceability and human oversight on sensitive topics. Every claim is checked by three AI systems from rival companies with equal votes; Thomas insisted on including a Chinese system ("leaving it out would make us like them"). He also proposed Odd World, a section for the world's unusual stories.
Spotted by Thomas Laurent (director) · solved together by Thomas and Vera
44 changes logged · 28 decided together