Source Sleuth
A long-running investigative research assistant for journalists that tracks sources across weeks, drafts FOIA requests, maps who-is-connected-to-whom, and re-checks earlier claims against new reporting.
investigative reporters working on multi-week or multi-month stories
- Source map that links people, companies, and documents with confidence scores and provenance
- FOIA and public-records request drafter tailored to each jurisdiction's wording
- Contradiction log that re-tests every earlier claim when a new document lands
- Outline co-pilot that turns the source map into a structured story outline each morning
Multi-agent research kernels with persistent memory now make it possible to keep a story alive between reporting days, something solo journalists have always done with notebooks and spreadsheets.
IRE/NICAR July 2026 article lists 10 AI tools in active use by investigative reporters (Pinpoint, NotebookLM, Claude Code, ChatGPT), and OSINT Industries sells subscription plans — clear evidence journalists actively adopt and pay for AI/OSINT tooling.Work smarter, dig deeper: 10 AI tools for investigative journalists ↗OSINT Platform Pricing Plans | OSINT Industries ↗
Existing tools cover slices — Google Pinpoint for document search, NotebookLM for source notebooks, Maltego for entity graphs, FOIA tracking software for agencies — but none combine persistent multi-week story memory, FOIA drafting, relationship mapping, and claim re-checking in one product aimed at reporters.Work smarter, dig deeper: 10 AI tools for investigative journalists ↗Best OSINT Tools (Paid): Ritu Gill's Top Picks ↗
Investigative journalists work in newsrooms with shrinking budgets; IRE's curated list leans on free tools (NotebookLM, ChatGPT, Pinpoint), and OSINT tools with paid tiers target law enforcement/corporate buyers rather than reporters — willingness to pay is real but price ceiling is low.Work smarter, dig deeper: 10 AI tools for investigative journalists ↗OSINT Platform Pricing Plans | OSINT Industries ↗
Investigative reporting is a durable profession with persistent needs for source tracking, document review, and FOIA work; AI capability is expanding fast and adoption is documented as accelerating, suggesting multi-year relevance.AI for Investigative Journalism: Tools and Techniques ↗
Building persistent multi-agent memory across weeks, entity/relationship resolution from messy notes, and generating jurisdiction-specific FOIA drafts is a non-trivial engineering effort — feasible with current LLMs but heavy in entity extraction, storage, and UX work.AI in investigative journalism: mapping the field ↗