build
Connote
The app that argues back.
Three AI stories a day, your call on each, and the best cited case against it.
the problem
AI news moves faster than anyone can keep up with.
why it hurts
Most of it is taken in by passive scrolling, and what you scroll past, you forget.
what i built
Connote, a daily AI news game: three stories a day, sixty words each from the source. You call each one yes or no and say how sure you are, then Kit the fox brings the best cited case against you, with dated receipts quoted word for word. You concede, refine or hold, and a ledger scores every call when the world answers. I designed and built it, the challenge engine underneath and the game on top.
One real morning: the 28 September edition and Kit's real pushback, replayed in film mode.
how it works
No evidence, no argument.
whyIf no two dated sources from two different sites argue against the call, Kit says so and shows where it looked.
Every receipt is quoted word for word, and code checks it.
whyThe model must quote the sentence from its source that most undermines the call; code checks the quote is really there, and a source without a date cannot be cited.
Score calls with a rule that cannot be gamed.
whyThe first points formula paid more for claiming more certainty than you had. The game uses one that pays most for saying what you actually believe, and a test checks it across the whole 55 to 95 scale.
in detail
01 / 03
The cover, the day's three and one story, sixty words from the source with its publisher and date. From the 27 September launch issue, real stories. The film above is the 28 September edition.
02 / 03
Make your call, then Kit's pushback: your best case fairly put, the counter, the load-bearing assumption, what would prove you wrong, and the receipts. Also from the 27 September launch issue, in its demo edition: the argument is illustrative, as the screen says; the receipts are real and linked.
03 / 03
Your move, an honest "we couldn't find a good case against you" with where Kit looked, and the ledger where every call waits until the world answers it. The first two from the demo edition and the ledger from the real one, all from the 27 September launch issue.
why it's useful
Connote makes you take a side, and taking a side is what makes you engage and remember. Changing your mind earns points. It is switched on for one player so far, its maker, behind a hard monthly spending cap.
technical specs
- Every screen reads and writes through one repository interface, so the game ran first on a demo data layer and moved to the real database without a screen changing.
- Every model call is logged with its cost. The server refuses a third pushback in a day, or anything past the monthly cap, before it spends.
- Under the game is the original notebook: capture a take, and the engine extracts its claims, searches for evidence against them and writes a cited challenge only if it finds some.
Being launched soon.


