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Complete beginnerLesson 3 of 56 min read

Check it in two minutes, without being an expert.

A course from the Academy: Doubt, verify, cross-check.

Go to the quiz ↓

Verifying is not an investigation. Three steps are enough, and they take less time than you might think.

Step 1: Ask it for its sources, then open them

"What are you basing that on? Give me the sources."

Watch out for the trap, and it's a big one: it can invent a source, with a credible title and a link that leads nowhere. A cited source is therefore worthless until you've actually opened it. This step only makes sense if you click.

Step 2: Copy the sentence into a search engine

Take the precise claim, not the general topic. If no serious result echoes it, be wary. Two independent sources saying the same thing is already solid.

Step 3: Ask the question differently, in a NEW conversation

In the same conversation, it tends to stay consistent with what it just said. In a fresh conversation, if it gives a clearly different answer, that's a sign it doesn't actually know.

What doesn't work

Asking it "are you sure?" It will often say yes, or apologise and change its answer, without either being a clue to the truth. Its stated confidence measures nothing.

What to do now

Go back to the statistic from the previous lesson. Ask it for its sources, and actually open them.

Complete the lesson

A 4-question quiz: 3 correct answers are enough, plus an exercise to practise. It opens in the Academy, on this same lesson.

Take the quiz and complete the lesson Free. With an account, your progress is saved and leads to the course certificate.

The course: Doubt, verify, cross-check.

  1. Why she makes things up, and why she sounds so sure of herself6 min
  2. The three areas where you should always check6 min
  3. Check it in two minutes, without being an expert.6 min
  4. Recognising a fabricated image or voice6 min
  5. What we never entrust to it5 min

The whole Academy →The AI glossary