Methodology

The AI criterion

The observatory is specialised: a measure is included only if it is linked to artificial intelligence. The link is direct when the measure explicitly concerns AI or its technical building blocks (computing, data, algorithms, automation). It is indirect when it explicitly concerns a digital lever of AI: data centers and the energy that powers them, cloud and digital sovereignty, digital skills, screens and digital tools in schools, online public services. A general energy, education or budget policy with no link to AI or digital technology established by the text is not included.

This link is first assessed by an AI tool, which gives its reason in one sentence, then confirmed by the person who reviews the measure. The criterion applies in the same way to every candidate.

No fact without a source

Every measure, position or statement links to a source: programme, campaign website, official account, video or press article. For every source, the observatory keeps its address, its publisher, its publication date and a digital fingerprint of the collected text, which makes it possible to check whether it has changed since. A timestamped public copy is also saved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and linked under the quote (“archived copy”); a few websites refuse archiving, which is then retried every week.

A source is primary when it comes from the candidate or their team, and secondary when it comes from the press. Information that comes only from the press is shown with the words “reported by”, followed by the media outlet and the date.

No publication without human review

An artificial intelligence tool helps find proposals in documents and split them into measures. It publishes nothing. Every proposed quote is first checked automatically: if it cannot be found word for word in the text of the source, it is discarded. It is then read and approved by a person. Any change to a published measure sends it back for review.

Translations

Quotes are in French, the language in which they were made. The English version shows a translation made by the observatory with the help of an AI tool and reviewed by a person before publication, always next to the original French quote, which remains the reference. A translation never adds, removes or softens anything. If the original changes, its translation goes back for review. Items not yet translated remain available in French.

Update frequency

The observatory is updated every week. Every Monday, a watch covers the candidates’ websites and official accounts and the reference press; selected items are published once reviewed. Major events (declaration of candidacy, publication of a programme, primary election) are handled as soon as they are known. The date of the last update is shown at the top of every page.

Neutrality

All candidates receive the same treatment, with the same fields. They are listed in alphabetical order. The costs and savings shown are those announced by the candidates, attributed as such; the observatory produces no costing of its own.

Candidate status

Anyone who has personally announced, in the first person, their candidacy for the presidential election is “declared”, even if the formal declaration is scheduled for later. A candidate in a primary, or a public figure without an explicit announcement, is a “potential candidate”. The official list will be set by the Constitutional Council once the endorsements (“parrainages”) are validated. Any change of status requires a new source.

Corrections and right of reply

The public, the media and campaign teams can report an error with the form under each quote (on the French page), or write to WYP.agency through the contact page. Every report is examined, and any correction goes through a new review. An email address left with a report is used only to reply, and is deleted as soon as the report is handled.

Audience measurement

Searches made on the observatory are logged anonymously (only the text typed, the filters and the number of results, with no IP address or identifier) to find the topics on which readers do not yet find an answer. Site traffic is measured with Google Analytics, as on the rest of wyp.agency: see the privacy policy.

Open data

All published data is free to reuse under the French Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab), with attribution: read-only API in JSON and CSV.

Who is behind this project

This observatory is designed and published by WYP.agency, an independent studio specialised in AI governance. WYP.agency does not support any candidate and has received no funding related to the campaign.