It would be an exaggeration to say you'll never again read a news article overhyping a medical breakthrough. But, thanks to researchers at the University of Copenhagen, spotting hyperbole may one day get more manageable.
In a new paper, Dustin Wright and Isabelle Augenstein explain how they used NVIDIA GPUs to train an exaggeration detection system to identify overenthusiastic claims in health science reporting.
The paper comes amid a pandemic that has fueled demand for understandable, accurate information. And social media has made health misinformation more widespread.
Research like Wright and Augenstein's could speed more precise health sciences news to more people.
Read the full paper here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2108.13493.pdf.
A Sobering Realization' Part of the reason why things in popular journalism tend to get sensationalized is some of the journalists don't read the papers they're writing about, Wright says. It's a bit of a sobering realization.
It's hard to blame them. Many journalists need to summarize a lot of information fast and often don't have the time to dig deeper.
University of Copenhagen researcher Dustin Wright. That task falls on the press offices of universities and research institutions. They employ writers to produce press releases - short, news-style summaries - relied on by news outlets.
Shot On That makes the problem of detecting exaggeration in health sciences press releases a good few-shot learning use case.
Few-shot learning techniques can train AI in areas where data isn't plentiful - there are only a few items to learn from.
It's not the first time researchers have put natural language techniques to work detecting hype. Wright points to the earlier work of colleagues in scientific exaggeration detection and misinformation.
Wright and Augenstein's contribution is to reframe the problem and apply a novel, multitask-capable version of a technique called Pattern Exploiting Training, which they dubbed MT-PET.
The co-authors started by curating a collection that included both the releases and the papers they were summarizing.
Each pair, or tuple, has annotations from experts comparing claims made in the papers with those in corresponding press releases.
These 563 tuples gave them a strong base of training data.
They then broke the problem of detecting exaggeration into two related issues.
First, seeing the strength of claims made in press releases and the scientific papers they summarized. Then, identifying the level of exaggeration.
Teacher's PET They then ran this data through a novel kind of PET model, which learns much the way some second-grade students learn reading comprehension.
The training procedure relies on cloze-style phrases - phrases that mask a keyword an AI needs to fill - to ensure it understands a task.
For example, a teacher might ask a student to fill in the blanks in a sentence such as I ride a big ____ bus to school.
Researchers Dustin Wright and Isabel Augenstein created complementary pattern-verbalizer pairs for a main task and an auxiliary task. These pairs are then used to train a machine learning model on data from both tasks (source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2108.13493.pdf). If they answer yellow, the teacher knows they understand what they see. If not, the teacher knows the student needs more help.
Wright and Augenstein expanded on the idea to train a PET model to both detect the strength of claims made in press releases and to assess whether a press release overstates a papers' claims.
The researchers trained their models on a shared computing cluster, using four Intel Xeon CPUs and a single NVIDIA TITAN X GPU.
As a result, Wright and Augenstein were able to show how MT-PET outperforms PET and supervised learning.
Such technology could allow researchers to spot exaggeration in fields with a limited amount of expertise to classify training data.
AI-enabled grammar checkers can already help writers polish the quality of their prose.
One day, similar tools could help journalists summarize new findings more accurately, Wright says.
Not Easy To be sure, putting this research to work would need investment in production, marketing and usability, Wright says.
Wright's also realistic about the human factors that can lead to exaggeration.
Press releases convey information. But they also need to be bold enough to generate interest from reporters. Not always easy.
Whenever I tweet about stuff, I think, how can I get this tweet out without exaggeration,' Wright says. It's hard.
You can catch Dustin Wright and Isabella Augenstein on Twitter at @dustin_wright37 and @IAugenstein. Read their full paper, Semi-Supervised Exaggeration Detection of Health Science Press Releases, here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2108.13493.pdf.
Featured image credit: Vintage postcard, copyright expired.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
When MMA icons Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano meet inside the Hexagon at Intuit Do...
15/05/2026
Daniel Roher attends the Tuner Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Theatre on January 22, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Neilson Bar...
15/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
15/05/2026
Rebranded show announced
Ahead of their 2026 return, Music Expo have announced that they have now officially changed their name to the MONO Music Conference...
15/05/2026
Fuzz pedal joins UK companys line-up
UK-based pedal makers Buzzing Bugs Audio Devices have recently unveiled their latest creation, the Bolster. Said to pay...
15/05/2026
Joint Statement: News Bargaining Incentive
28 April, 2026
Media releases
The vibrancy of Australian democracy relies on the robust and open exchange of new...
15/05/2026
Call it Deltavision, Australia's through to the Grand Final of this year'...
15/05/2026
Join Calrec at MPTS 2026 | May 13-14 | Stand A40 | Olympia, London We're looking forward to meeting up with customers and partners at this year's Media ...
15/05/2026
86% of media planners would move more linear TV budget to CTV if they had show-level targeting and reporting - and 65% would also shift dollars from programmati...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Clear-Com will showcase new communications solutions and major platform updates at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7005), June 17-19, in the North and Central Halls of t...
15/05/2026
Following an outstanding inaugural year in 2025, Rise AV is proud to announce the return of its flagship leadership initiative, Elevate. The programme continues...
15/05/2026
Berklee Announces Lineup for Inaugural AI Music Summit The three-day event puts musicians at the center of the future of music creation, ethics, and the indus...
15/05/2026
Lightware returns to InfoComm 2026 with a focused showcase of scalable USB-C connectivity, next-generation AV-over-IP solutions, and technologies that help over...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Delivering a live, arena-scale production of a massively popular band is no small feat. Between expansive in-arena LED walls and a global live stream fed to onl...
It would be an exaggeration to say you'll never again read a news article overhyping a medical breakthrough. But, thanks to researchers at the University of Copenhagen, spotting hyperbole may one day get more manageable.
