Everyday productivity
Make your assistant check its own claims
You will have a copy-and-paste verification prompt and a habit of checking the three claims that matter most.
Before you start
- An AI assistant, free plan is fine
- An answer you are thinking of using for something real
The problem with confident answers
Assistants write fluently whether or not they know the answer. A wrong date and a right date look identical on the screen. You cannot tell by tone.
A good prompt will not make the assistant always right. It makes the weak spots visible so you know where to look.
Step 1: Ask for the weak spots
After you get an answer, ask the assistant to mark its own claims. Do this in the same chat so it can see what it wrote.
Go back over your last answer. List every specific claim, such as a number, date, name, price or rule. Next to each, mark it Sure, Unsure or Guess. Say what I should check and where I could check it. Do not defend the answer. If a claim has no support, say so.
Assistants are better at flagging doubt when you ask directly. The labels are a guide, not a guarantee, so treat Sure as “probably”.
Step 2: Check the three that matter
You do not need to check everything. Pick the three claims that would hurt most if wrong: money, legal or health points, and anything a customer will see.
- Circle the three claims.
- Look each one up on the official source, such as the company, the government site or the product page.
- Write the source next to the claim, or delete the claim if you cannot confirm it.
Step 3: Give it the facts instead
The strongest fix is to paste the real information and tell the assistant to use only that. You will meet this idea again in the guide on grounded prompts.
Answer using only the text below. If the answer is not in the text, say “not in the text”. Do not use anything else you know. Text: [paste the facts] Question: [your question]
Worked example
Mei writes a price page for a cleaning service. Mei and the service are made up for this example. She asks for a refund policy and the assistant adds “refunds within 30 days”. When she asks it to mark its claims, that line comes back as Guess.
Mei does not have a 30-day policy, so she deletes the line and pastes her real policy instead. The page now says what she actually offers.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trusting an answer because it sounds sure
- Checking everything, then giving up
- Asking the assistant to confirm itself and treating that as proof
- Skipping the check on prices, dates and promises
Final checklist
- I asked the assistant to mark its claims
- I picked the three claims that matter most
- I checked each against an official source
- I removed anything I could not confirm