Cost
An unchecked claim that you send onward can cost more than the chat did.
Home · Start here · 03 · Checking AI output
Lesson 3 of 7. Next: What not to paste.
Lesson · No account
Checking AI output
Checking a reply means comparing a claim to a source you can open. A claim with no source you have opened is still unchecked.
1 What it is
A hallucination is a reply that states something the prompt and the sources do not support. That is the definition on the Hallucination card. Asking the same chat "are you sure?" produces another reply. It does not open a source.
Example
Source. The return window is 30 days from delivery.
Claim A. You have 30 days from delivery. The example source says this.
Claim B. Shipping is refunded in full. The example source does not say this.
This is not a real shop. The sentences were written for this card.
2 Why it matters
Quality
The useful sentence is the one you can point to in a source.
Risk
You are the person who sends the reply on. The chat does not take that on.
3 How to apply · try today
Take the last reply you used. Pick one factual claim. Find it in a source you can open, or mark the claim unchecked and do not pass it on.
Common mistake
Trusting a citation you have not opened. A made-up title and a real one can look the same.
Self-check
The reply includes a link. When is the claim checked?
Copy one factual sentence from a reply you already have. Search for it in a document, a page, or a message you trust. If you cannot find it, leave the sentence out of anything you send.
Do not ask the same chat to confirm it. That is another reply.
Go further
The Hallucination card shows a claim that is in the source and a claim that is not. The picture is labelled as an example.
Questions
- Is a citation enough?
- No. Open it. A title and a link can be written the same way whether or not the page says the claim.
- What if there is no source to open?
- The claim is unchecked. Do not pass it on as fact.