How the score works
Every article carries a score from 0 to 100. The AI does not pick that number. It judges the three things below, and we combine them with the same formula every time — so the score is reproducible and checkable rather than a matter of the model's mood.
Nothing below 60 is published here at all.
What the AI judges
Impact (0–10)
How much should a Thai SME owner change what they do because of this?
- 0 — Nothing changes. Foreign corporate trivia, celebrity or lifestyle news.
- 2 — Background awareness only. Interesting, but no decision follows from it.
- 5 — One sector should factor this into planning this quarter.
- 8 — Most Thai SMEs should budget, price or staff differently because of it.
- 10 — Economy-wide and unavoidable: a tax or labour law change, a minimum-wage ruling, a sharp move in the baht or fuel.
Urgency (0–10)
How soon does it matter?
- 0 — No deadline. Evergreen background.
- 3 — Matters within the year.
- 5 — Matters this quarter.
- 8 — Matters this month, or a deadline is close.
- 10 — Acting this week changes the outcome: a filing deadline, a price or rate change already in force.
Noise (0–10)
How much of this is hype, PR or padding rather than substance? (higher is worse)
- 0 — Concrete and checkable: named policy, real numbers, named parties.
- 3 — Mostly substance, some promotion around it.
- 5 — A press release with some genuine content inside.
- 8 — Funding round, award, ranking or partnership announcement with nothing actionable in it.
- 10 — Pure clickbait or content marketing.
The formula
substance = (0.65 x Impact + 0.35 x Urgency) / 10 score = 100 x substance ^ (1/4) x (1 - 0.45 x Noise / 10)
Impact outweighs urgency because missing a big slow story costs a business more than missing a small fast one. Noise is a multiplier rather than a subtraction: it discounts whatever substance was claimed, so a press release about something genuinely important still can't buy its way onto the front page.
Worked examples
| Impact | Urgency | Noise | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 5 | 44 | A routine item with nothing in it for you — not published |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | 43 | Press-release filler — not published |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 64 | Modest but real -- just clears the floor |
| 5 | 4 | 2 | 75 | A solid story for one sector |
| 8 | 8 | 10 | 52 | Genuinely important, but pure PR -- still not published — not published |
| 8 | 8 | 0 | 95 | Major and substantive |
What the badges mean
- 80+ Act on this
- 70+ Worth your time
- 60+ Worth knowing
The angles we write to
Headlines and summaries are written from the point of view of a Thai SME owner, taking one to three of these angles — the things that reader actually does:
- Need to know
- Fail to do
- Waste time on
- Complain about
- Don't understand
- Don't have time for
- Love archiving
- Feel great about
- Consider “successful”
- Lose money on
- Make money from
Where this falls short
This is an AI reading a headline and an excerpt, not an editor who knows your business. It misreads things, and judging each component is a decision rather than a measurement — two sensible people would score the same article differently. The formula and the anchors are published above so you can decide how much weight the number deserves, rather than having to take it on trust.
Rubric version:
v2-thai-sme