At some point the machine fact-checking relies on data input by humans. Or does the machine interpret data directly from cameras on the street to determine, e.g. that suspect A shot victim B with weapon C? Does it interpret a historical textbook and assess the veracity of its sources and claims? Or does it build a time machine to go into the past and acquire raw data to verify claimed facts?

Thanks for elaborating.

> At some point the machine fact-checking relies on data input by humans.

But so does nearly every ML model? In the case of a spell checker it is using corpora made by humans. If the majority of humans start spelling words differently, then facts about the correct spellings change with them.

> Or does the machine interpret data directly from cameras on the street to determine, e.g. that suspect A shot victim B with weapon C?

If the military gets their way this will happen sooner than later. It is not technically infeasible to do activity detection from drone footage.

> Does it interpret a historical textbook and assess the veracity of its sources and claims?

Yes. Just like a journalist would when fact checking an article about WWII.

> Or does it build a time machine to go into the past and acquire raw data to verify claimed facts?

Raw data is both an oxymoron and a bad idea. Data is brought into existence by human-made measuring devices.