Check the claims with consequences first

Do not spend equal time checking every sentence. Start with claims that affect money, deadlines, safety, legal obligations, health, reputation, or another person’s work. A small error in one of those areas can matter more than several awkward sentences.

Return to the primary source

If the answer summarizes a supplied document, open the document. If it names a policy, law, product feature, price, or schedule, check the responsible organization’s current page. A list of links generated by AI is not proof because the link or description may be wrong.

Use uncertainty honestly

Some questions do not have a clean answer. If reliable sources disagree or the information changes quickly, state the date checked, the source used, and what remains uncertain. A careful limitation is more useful than false confidence.

Practise on real work

Run a claim audit

Use an AI answer you received recently.

Prompt to adapt

Extract every factual claim from this answer into a table with four columns: claim, consequence if wrong, source needed, and verification status. Do not mark anything verified. I will verify each claim myself.

Judgment checks

  • Did you verify important claims outside the AI answer?
  • Are quotations and links real and accurately described?
  • Did you state what remains unconfirmed?

Keep these points

  • Verification effort should follow consequence.
  • Primary sources beat generated citations.
  • State uncertainty instead of smoothing it away.

Official sources and further reading

Product features and policies change. Check the linked source before relying on tool-specific details.