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Guide4 min readUpdated 07:02

How to check an AI answer before you trust it

AI can sound sure and still be wrong. A two-minute routine catches most mistakes.

Use a quick routine: sources, numbers, counter-argument, and a second model for anything that matters.

For anything you publish or act on, make verification systematic: grounding, citations you can resolve, and checks you can automate.

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AI tools sometimes make things up and sound completely confident about it. People call this a . It doesn’t mean you can’t use AI: it means you check the parts that matter.

Ask for sources, then open one. Check numbers and dates against something you trust. Ask it to argue the other side: a weak answer often falls apart. And for health, money or legal questions, use AI to prepare your questions, then ask a professional.

A is most likely when you ask about niche facts, recent events, exact figures or citations. Those are the parts to check.

A routine that works: ask for sources and verify one; re-derive any numbers in a calculator or spreadsheet; ask for the strongest counter-argument; and for important answers, ask a second AI and compare. Where the two disagree is where to dig.

Reduce at the source by grounding: give the model the documents and ask it to answer only from them, quoting the passages it relies on. Then verify mechanically: resolve every citation, check quoted text exists in the source, and validate numbers with code.

For recurring tasks, build a small eval set from past errors and run it whenever you change a prompt or a model. Humans review what the checks can’t: judgement, tone and whether the answer actually addresses the question.

Try it yourself 2 minutes

  1. Ask your AI a factual question you care about.
  2. Ask: What are your sources? and open one.
  3. Ask: What would someone who disagrees say?

Try it yourself 2 minutes

  1. Take an answer with numbers in it.
  2. Recalculate one figure yourself.
  3. Ask a second assistant the same question and compare.

Try it yourself 2 minutes

  1. Give a model a document and a question about it.
  2. Ask it to quote the passage behind each claim.
  3. Search the document for each quote.

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