Three ways to fact-check an AI answer before you use it
Ask for the source, check the load-bearing number yourself, and make the model disagree with itself. Ten minutes that keep a confident paragraph from becoming your mistake.
Hristo Stefanov · Wildwood, New Jersey · Sep 1, 2026 · 1 min · AI Tools
Ask where it came from
After any answer you might repeat, ask: “Which sentence did you not get from my notes, and what should I open to verify it?” A tool with links (a sourced search) should give you the page. A chat model should admit what it inferred. If it cannot point, treat that sentence as untrusted.
Check the one number that matters
You do not need to audit every adjective. Find the load-bearing fact — the price, the date, the percentage, the name of the rule — and open a primary page yourself. A grocery plan built on a wrong unit price, or a citation of a benefit that changed last year, is the failure mode. The rest of the prose can be lightly edited.
Make it argue the other side
Paste the answer back and ask: “What in this is most likely wrong, and what would a skeptical reader check first?” You are not looking for a new essay. You are looking for the weak joint. If the model names a claim you were about to publish, check that one next.
Then stop. Fact-checking is a gate, not a second research project. If two checks fail, do not use the answer. Write it yourself from the pages you opened.
