AI & Digital Skills · AI Safety & Judgement

How to check whether an AI answer is right

AI assistants can be wrong while sounding certain. Checking takes a few minutes and protects you from passing on mistakes.

Learn

Step by step

  1. Underline the claims. Pick out facts that matter: figures, dates, names, rules, quotes and links.
  2. Go to a primary source. Check each claim against an official or original source — the law itself, the company's own site, the published paper.
  3. Re-do the maths. Recalculate any number with a calculator. AI often makes arithmetic slips.
  4. Test the references. Open every link and search every citation. Invented references are a common failure.

Worked example

Before and after

Before: AI says: 'UK drivers must renew their photocard licence every 5 years, and the fee is £14.'

After: Checking the official government website shows the photocard must be renewed every 10 years, and the fee should be read from the official page on the day you check.

Why it works: The routine caught a wrong renewal period. The answer sounded confident; only the primary source settled it.

Try it

Practice tasks

  1. An AI summary quotes 'a 2019 Oxford study found 73% of workers…' with no link. What should you do?
  2. AI calculates 15% of £240 as £32. Is it correct?
  3. Which source would you use to check a train timetable an AI gave you?

Key terms and next lesson

HallucinationWhen an AI confidently produces information that is false or made up.RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)A method where an AI first looks up relevant documents, then uses them to write its answer.Training dataThe examples used to teach an AI model — text, images, recordings or records.Next: Using AI to help write work emailsAI can save time on routine emails, but you remain responsible for what is sent. Use it for a first draft, then edit.

Last reviewed: 25 September 2026