Key points
- AI is best treated as a fast research assistant — not an authority.
- Your safety move is provenance: every key claim needs a source you can inspect.
- Use “Cite → Quote → Corroborate”: source the claim, verify the quote, cross-check elsewhere.
High-risk failure mode
If an AI gives confident specificity without traceable sources (names, numbers, thresholds, “rules”), assume it may be wrong until verified.
The Provenance-First protocol (90 seconds)
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Step 1 — Demand sources before you read the prose
Ask for the sources first (with links). If sources are missing or vague, restart the query.
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Step 2 — Pick the 2–3 “load-bearing claims”
Identify the few claims that matter. These are the only ones you verify deeply.
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Step 3 — Quote-check one claim directly
Open the source and find the exact line supporting the claim. If you can’t find it quickly, downgrade trust.
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Step 4 — Triangulate with an independent reference
Confirm the same claim elsewhere (different publisher/author group). Agreement across independent sources is your confidence upgrade.
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Step 5 — Save the verified source, not the AI text
Your durable asset is the primary source link (and your note). AI prose is disposable.
Hallucination tells (pattern recognition)
- Over-precise numbers without a source.
- Citations that don’t match the claim when opened.
- Named organisations/documents that don’t exist.
- Confident language + zero uncertainty in an uncertain area.
- “Policy-like” statements with no official link.
SourceNIST AI Risk Management Framework (official): governance and risk thinking
Open Link SourceBMJ: How to read a paper (use it to verify claims)
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Work through this guide (10 steps)
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Ask for the sources first (with links). If sources are missing or vague, restart the query.
Return to this sectionIdentify the few claims that matter. These are the only ones you verify deeply.
Return to this sectionOpen the source and find the exact line supporting the claim. If you can’t find it quickly, downgrade trust.
Return to this sectionConfirm the same claim elsewhere (different publisher/author group). Agreement across independent sources is your confidence upgrade.
Return to this sectionYour durable asset is the primary source link (and your note). AI prose is disposable.
Return to this section- Return to this section
- Return to this section
- Return to this section
- Return to this section
- Return to this section
Exam technique · Article 1 of 3