Method & Standards
How Wiiver reports, how we use software, and where the line sits between human judgment and the tools that support it.
Effective July 1, 2026
The Bright Line
Wiiver is human-judgment-first, AI-accelerated. We use software to gather, cluster, and organize the public record at a speed no individual could match, but the part that matters, the judgment, is always a person’s. We state plainly which is which, because trust in analysis depends on knowing who is accountable for it.
People decide what it means. Every causal claim, forecast, and analytical conclusion in a Crosscurrent is made and owned by a named human. Tools help us see; they do not decide. When you read “this reprices the sector” or “expect the regulator to move next,” a person reasoned to that and stands behind it.
How we use AI
We use general-purpose AI assistants, currently Claude (Anthropic) and Gemini (Google), as research and production support. Specifically, they help us:
- Curate the news: scan and cluster developments across sectors and surface the ones worth a closer look;
- Do deep research: retrieve and organize primary sources, filings, dockets, disclosures, transcripts, releases, and assemble timelines;
- Rephrase our own copy: tighten and clarify drafting a human has already written and owns; and
- Proofread: catch typos, inconsistencies, and unclear passages before a person makes the final call.
We treat everything an AI tool produces as unvetted raw material, not finished work. A person checks it, rewrites it, and takes responsibility for it.
What AI never does
- Decide what a story means, no forecast, causal claim, or judgment of significance is made on a tool’s authority.
- Publish anything. Every Crosscurrent is reviewed and approved by a person before it goes live.
- Carry a byline. Every piece is authored and owned by a named human on the Wiiver Team.
- Invent a source, quote, statistic, date, or image. Anything an AI surfaces is verified against the original before we rely on it, and we never publish AI-generated quotes or imagery as if they were real.
Sourcing
Every Crosscurrent is built on cited primary sources you can open and check. We separate what is established fact from what is analysis or forecast, and when we draw a conclusion we show the chain that led to it. When something is uncertain, we say so rather than rounding it up to certainty.
We treat the publishers and reporters whose work we build on as partners, not raw material. We link to original reporting, name the outlet, and quote only what’s needed to make a point, the goal is to send you to the source, not to replace it.
Corrections and updates
We will get things wrong, and when we do we fix them in the open. We don’t silently edit a published claim out of existence.
- Factual errors are corrected promptly and labeled clearly as corrections, with a short note of what changed and when.
- Developing stories are versioned: as facts firm up, dated updates are added rather than overwritten.
- To report an error, email josh.lynwood@wiiver.co.
The Blindspot Score
Some Crosscurrents carry a Blindspot Score: a visual read of which sectors a story is being covered from, and which angles most coverage is missing. It exists to make our core claim legible, that single-lens coverage leaves gaps, and to show our own work in identifying them.
The score is a descriptive signal, not a precise measurement. It reflects where we found coverage at the time of writing and which cross-sector angles we judged under-covered, and a person always decides the final read. We’ll expand the detail on how it’s built here as the beta progresses.
Independence and conflicts
Wiiver’s analysis is not for sale. We currently run no advertising or sponsorship; if we introduce it, sponsored content will be clearly labeled and kept entirely separate from editorial judgment, sponsors get no review of, or influence over, what we conclude, consistent with FTC disclosure guidelines. Where a piece touches an entity we have any relationship with, we disclose it in the piece.
Who is accountable
During the beta, every Crosscurrent is produced and owned by a named human on the Wiiver Team, who reviews the sourcing, adopts or rewrites every claim, and approves publication. We are a small, independent operation based in Washington, D.C., writing for readers who work at the intersections we cover. To reach the person behind a piece, email josh.lynwood@wiiver.co.
Changes to these standards
As Wiiver grows, these standards will too. We’ll post the revised version here and update the date above. If a change is material, a shift in how we handle AI, sourcing, or corrections, we’ll say so plainly rather than quietly amend it.