Checking the Work

You cannot verify everything — that would cost more than the tool saves. The skill is knowing what to check, and having a quick way to do it.

Sort by consequence first

Before you ask anything, answer one question: what happens if this is wrong?

If the answer is "nothing much" — you are brainstorming, drafting an outline, getting unstuck — use it freely and move on. Verification would cost more than the error.

If the answer is "I would look foolish in front of a client", "someone would act on bad information", or "I would make a decision I cannot reverse" — then the output is a starting point and nothing more.

Most people already know which of their tasks fall where. The mistake is applying the same standard to both.

Three checks that catch most of it

1. Verify anything specific. Names, numbers, dates, citations, quotes. Vague claims are usually safe; specifics are where the errors are. Check them somewhere that is not an AI.

2. Ask again in a fresh chat. Not in the same conversation — there it will defend what it already said. A new chat, question phrased differently. A materially different answer means at least one is wrong.

3. Ask it to argue against itself. "What is the strongest case that this answer is wrong?" This surfaces caveats it did not volunteer.

Ask for uncertainty explicitly

Models will flag their own shakiness, but rarely without being asked. Adding one line — "mark anything you are not confident about, and say plainly if you do not know" — changes the output more than people expect.

It is not a guarantee. A model can be confidently wrong about its own confidence. But it surfaces enough to be worth the sentence.

Treat citations as search terms

If it gives you a source, do not cite it — find it. A citation from an AI is a good search term and nothing more. Often it points at roughly the right material. Sometimes there is nothing there at all.

Keep a human in the loop where it counts

Decide in advance which of your outputs a person must read before they leave the building. Anything client-facing. Anything with numbers. Anything making a claim about law, health or safety.

Write that rule down. It is the single most effective safeguard available, and it is the first thing that slips when everyone is busy.