Giulia Pincetti and Natalia Pataq

Bloomfield Hills natives, Giulia Pincetti (pictured here) and Natalia Pataq, met earlier this year as students at the University of Michigan. They initially bonded over a class project as well as growing up in the same area, and were inspired to start an information services company called Verum Technologies with a fellow student, David Vargas.

The Latin word “verum” translates to “truth” in English.

“Our project was connected to UCLA’s Initiative to Study Hate. It involved mitigating misinformation,” Pataq explained. “On college campuses, students may say things or argue points but it’s important to break down these points to catch misinformation before it becomes false ideology.”

Pincetti grew up in Bloomfield Hills and graduated from the International Academy. During her high school years, she played volleyball on Seaholm High School’s team and was involved in ice skating and volunteer work. At U-M, she is an active member of two professional clubs, Nexecon Consulting Group and Michigan Advertising and Marketing.

Pincetti spent the past two summers interning in Toronto but plans to be in Bloomfield Hills next summer. “It’s a breath of fresh air going home. I appreciate Birmingham more – checking out new stores, seeing friends.”

Pataq lived in West Bloomfield until the age of nine when her family moved to Bloomfield Hills. She graduated from Detroit Country Day School, where she was in the Conservatory Arts program specializing in drawing. She was also in the forensics program participating in speech, debate and competitions. At U-M, Pataq has been a research assistant and part of the Michigan Foreign Policy Council. She is spending this summer in Washington D.C. as a Capitol Hill intern in the office of Lisa McClain, representative for Michigan’s 9th District and chairwoman of the Republican Conference.

According to Pincetti and Pataq, Verum Technologies builds tools that take a claim and put real sources against it in real time to avoid the spread of misinformation. The company recently launched an app called Verdict that checks the accuracy of a post, claim, video or article within seconds before it is reshared. They have a second app in development called Real Talk that checks claims during a live conversation.

“We want to tie everything back to the truth and facts,” explained Pincetti. “We hope this app can help communities in a good way with more productive conversations that take out emotions and misinformation and promote critical thinking.”

Pincetti said the Verdict app evaluates a claim by utilizing layers of AI-analyzed sources including academic, news sources, as well as less reliable sources such as Wikipedia or Reddit. For each claim, users are given a confidence rating and a list of sources to back it up.

Pataq added: “The app is useful and accessible – you can use it on Instagram while scrolling. It allows people to take a break and verify.”

Each of the founding trio brings their unique talents to the company. Pincetti, a business administration and international studies major, handles business and strategy. Pataq, a political science major, focuses on politics, policy, operations and public impact. And Vargas, who was not part of the initial class project but was brought in to lead the technical end of the business, is a recent U-M computer science graduate from Spain.

Pataq emphasized that the app’s information is neutral and does not have a partisan slant. “Being in D.C. for the summer and understanding the political landscape and echo chambers of information, it’s clear that misinformation is a problem. Many people blindly follow politicians or parties. Many trust a politician or quote without questioning whether or not what they’re saying is actually true.”

When paths crossed for this pair, they ended up sharing not only a hometown and love of learning, but a noble passion as stated by Pincetti: “Our mission is to eradicate misinformation.”

Story: Tracy Donohue

Photo: Laurie Tennent