What you’ll learn
The problem: An AI answer can sound convincing even when a date, price, or other detail is wrong.
How AI can help: AI can help you identify claims to check and compare text. You still need to check important facts against a trustworthy source yourself.
In this lesson: You’ll compare a made-up AI answer with a notice and find an error, a match, and an unanswered question.
What you’ll need: Just this page for the practice. An AI account is optional.
Before you start: The examples are made up. If you use an AI chat later, don’t paste passwords, account numbers, medical records, or confidential work information.
1. Find the details that matter
Imagine you ask AI about a workshop and receive this answer. We wrote it for this exercise; it is not a recorded AI response.
Registration closes Friday at 5 p.m. The workshop starts Saturday at 10 a.m. Admission is free.
Before making plans, you’d want to know whether the deadline, start time, and price are correct.
2. Look at the original source
For a real workshop, find the organizer’s current notice or website yourself. Contact the organizer if something is unclear. A confident answer or a link alone does not prove a claim.
For this exercise, pretend this is the organizer’s notice:
Registration closes Wednesday at 5 p.m. The workshop starts Saturday at 10 a.m.
3. Compare the answer with the notice
Read both examples side by side. Which details match? Is anything different or missing from the notice? Decide what you think before opening the check below.
Show the example check
We wrote this check for the lesson; both examples are fictional.
The deadline is wrong: The notice says Wednesday, not Friday.
The start time matches: Both say Saturday at 10 a.m.
The price is unknown: The notice doesn’t mention admission, so you can’t conclude that it is free. Check with the organizer.
4. Decide what you can rely on
For real information, focus on details that matter if they’re wrong—such as dates, prices, instructions, or quotations. Compare each one with a current, trustworthy original source.
Asking AI the same question again does not independently verify its answer. AI may help compare text you are allowed to share, but you still need to check the original yourself.
Try it with your own question
Suppose AI gives you a business’s opening hours. Find that business’s current official page or contact it directly, then compare the hours. If the information is missing or conflicts, leave it unverified until you can check.
What if I get stuck?
The answer links to a source. Open it and read the relevant detail; a link can be wrong, outdated, or unrelated.
The source doesn’t mention a claim. Mark it unknown rather than assuming it is true or false. Find another reliable original source or ask the organization.
Two sources disagree. Look for the most current information from the organization responsible, or contact it directly.
You’ve finished when: You’ve checked the deadline, start time, and missing price against the fictional notice.