Check a chart
Drop in a screenshot. Skeptic reads the numbers off it, rebuilds the chart, and tells you when the axis, the dates or the scale are doing the persuading.
■An AI that checks its own math
Prove it.
Skeptic is an AI for anyone who works with numbers. Show it a chart, a claim or a spreadsheet and it checks the math the way a careful statistician would, including its own.
Free during the beta. One email when your invite is ready, nothing else. The public beta opens December 17.
Already invited? Open the beta01See it work
Here’s a chart that’s doing the talking.
A made up example, but you’ve seen this chart before. The numbers are fine. The picture isn’t.
Average rent, downtown, one bedroom
What you’re shown
Two bars. The second one towers over the first, and the headline says rent is through the roof.
Most people stop here. That’s the point of the chart.
What Skeptic checks
- The axis starts at $2,400, not zero. Everything below that line is cut off.
- So the second bar looks 12 times taller. The actual numbers are $2,410 and $2,520.
- The real change is $110, or 4.6 percent. Recomputed from the values on the chart.
MisleadingRent went up. Not by anything like what the picture suggests.
The honest version
Same two numbers, axis from zero. Rent went up 4.6 percent. That’s real, it’s just nothing like the first picture.
Skeptic rebuilds the chart so you can fix it, restyle it or share the honest one.
02What it does
For when you need to know if something’s true.
Check a claim
Paste a paragraph, a report or a link. Every number gets traced back and recomputed where it can be, then marked as holds up, misleading or unsourced.
Run the numbers
Bring a CSV or a spreadsheet and ask your question. It picks the test, runs it, and gives you a range for how sure it is instead of one confident number.
Break the conclusion
Before you trust a result, it tries to break it. Other splits, outliers out, different time windows. If the finding survives, you’ll see why.
Show its work
Every answer comes with the steps behind it. Download the proof as Python or R and rerun it yourself.
Edit what it makes
Charts, tables, documents and pictures can all be changed by hand. Point at a part and say what you want different, or just ask.
03Two AIs
Two AIs. You decide where your data goes.
Both are named after statisticians. John Tukey gave us the box plot. William Gosset published as “Student” and gave us the t test.
In the cloud
Tukey
Nothing to install. Works on any phone or computer with a browser. It’s the stronger of the two for long documents, pictures, video and the hardest questions.
On your device Coming during the beta
Gosset
My own model. It runs in your browser on your computer, so what you give it never leaves your machine. After one download it works with the wifi off. It needs a recent computer with WebGPU.
TukeyGosset
RunsIn the cloudOn your computer
SetupA free sign in, the first timeOne download, a few GB
Your dataSent to answer you, never soldNever leaves your device
OfflineNoYes, after the download
Best forBig files, pictures and video, hard questionsPrivate data and working anywhere
04Why I built my own model
Some data shouldn’t have to leave your laptop.
A lot of what people want checked is private. Unpublished research, a company’s numbers before they’re public, a dataset from a class you’re not supposed to share. Sending that to a server just so an AI can look at it never sat right with me.
So I fine tuned a smaller open model on Skeptic’s own statistics engine, thousands of worked checks, until it learned to test a claim instead of guessing at one. That’s Gosset. It runs on your own computer, and once it’s downloaded you can turn the wifi off and it keeps working.
Matin
05Who it’s for
For people who read numbers for a living, or are learning to.
- Stats and data studentsCheck your reasoning, not just the answer.
- AnalystsPressure test a result before it goes in the deck.
- ResearchersRun the checks a reviewer would, before they do.
- JournalistsKnow if a chart holds up before you publish it.
- Quant and financeBacktests, returns and the claims made about them.
- Anyone with a spreadsheetAsk a real question about your data in plain words.
06Questions
The usual questions.
Is it free?
Yes, for the whole beta. If that ever changes I’ll say so well before it does.
What happens to my data?
Your chats and files are saved in your browser, on your device. Tukey sends what you ask to the cloud so it can answer. Gosset sends nothing. When either one searches the web, only the search words go out. None of it is sold.
Do I need an account?
Not a Skeptic account. Tukey may ask for a free sign in the first time you use it. Gosset needs nothing at all.
What can I run it on?
Tukey works in any recent browser, on a phone or a computer. Gosset needs a laptop or desktop with a recent browser that supports WebGPU, like current Chrome, Edge or Safari, and a few gigabytes free for the download.
When can I get in?
Private beta invites start going out this fall, a few at a time. The public beta opens December 17. Join the waitlist and you’ll hear from me when yours is ready.
Who’s building this?
Me, Matin Nikoomanzar. I study statistics and data science at UCLA, and Skeptic is the tool I wanted every time a chart or an AI answer looked a little too convincing.
■Get an invite
Want in early?
I’m letting people in a few at a time so I can actually talk to each of you. Leave your email and I’ll send your invite when it’s ready.