System and method for fact-checking complex claims with program-guided reasoning

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions are a framework including a program generation module and a program execution module, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for fact checking electronically posted claims, the method comprising:

• inputting a textual complex claim as a natural language statement with a combination of two or more facts;
• generating, by the program generation module, a reasoning program having at least one program step for the input complex claim as a sequence of reasoning steps, where each program step directs to a function in a set of sub-task functions;
• delegating, by the program execution module, each step in the reasoning program to a respective sub-task function and executing the respective sub-task function;
• and
• outputting, as a result of the reasoning program, an indication that the textual complex claim is true or false and an explanation for the indication, the explanation representing the reasoning program to show a reasoning process used to obtain the indication,
• wherein the explanation includes a plurality of sub-tasks described in a programming language, each sub-task corresponding to a step of the reasoning program, and
• wherein the set of sub-task functions includes:
• a Verify function for verifying whether an argument is true or false,
• a Question function for taking an argument as a question and generating an answer for the question, and
• a Predict function for predicting a veracity of an argument.