How can I check an AI answer?

An AI assistant can produce a fluent answer that contains made-up information. This is often called a hallucination. Confidence in its wording is not evidence that the answer is correct.

First compare the answer with the information you supplied. Check names, dates, numbers, and conditions. Then look for any facts it added. For information that changes, check a current source. For arithmetic, use a calculator.

A response can also leave out an important exception or reflect a narrow point of view. Ask whose experience is missing and whether the source fits the situation. Asking the same assistant if it is sure does not provide an independent check.

For a consequential decision, use the answer to organize questions, then check with the relevant authority or qualified person. You can choose not to use AI when checking its work would take more effort than doing the task yourself.

A citation can pass one check and fail the other.

• Membership: the number points to a passage supplied to the tool. A program can check this exactly.
• Support: the passage backs up what the sentence says. This takes reading.
• Fictional example: a handbook passage reads "Plot fees are refunded for plots given up before June 1." An answer says "Your refund arrives within 7 days if you give up your plot in May [1]." Citation 1 passes membership, but the passage gives no refund processing time. The 7-day promise is unsupported.

• Search can miss. A tool often answers from a few passages its search found, not the whole document. If the passage that answers the question is not among them, the answer comes from the wrong passages, or the tool says it cannot answer.
• Wording can drift. A model can generalize, combine two passages, or add a qualifier that neither passage contains, and still attach a real citation.
• A valid link looks the same either way. In an interface like this one, nothing on the screen tells a supported sentence from an unsupported one until someone reads the passage.

The document reader answers questions about a file you choose.

• It gives the model up to 8 numbered passages from its search and asks for a passage number after every factual sentence.
• Before you see anything, the server drops any sentence that cites no passage it was given. When nothing is left, or the reply includes "The document does not say." anywhere, the page shows no answer and says why.
• Each citation shows the start of its passage, up to about 300 characters, with section and page and a Show in source button for the full passage. The answer also says how many passages its search found and how many the answer cited.

Whether each sentence follows from its passage. The server rule checks passage numbers, not meaning.

Its measured results come from short synthetic test documents reviewed by an AI, not from people's own files, and all of them were recorded before a later change to the citation check.

Use these steps when you can open the cited sources. They apply to research briefs, policy answers, and status reports.

1. Open the source for every factual statement you will repeat or act on. Do not stop at the number.
2. Check whether the passage supports the meaning of the sentence, including its scope and exceptions. A faithful paraphrase can use different words.
3. Check added qualifiers such as "all", "always", "full", and "only", along with numbers, dates, and names. Matching words alone do not establish support.
4. When a sentence cites 2 passages, check whether the answer needs both. A conclusion built from 2 passages may be stated in neither.
5. When a tool says the source does not cover something, search the document yourself before you accept that. Its search may have missed the passage.

Here is an authored illustration, not a recorded AI response. A neighborhood notice says: "The book swap is from 10 am to noon at the community hall. Entry is free. Children must attend with an adult." A sample answer says: "Come for free books and refreshments from 10 am to noon. Children are welcome."

What would you change before sharing that answer?

The notice does not mention refreshments or say whether the books are free. Free entry is different from free books. The answer also omits the adult-attendance condition. A clearer summary keeps the time and place, says entry is free, and includes the condition. Ask the organizer about anything the notice does not cover.