Checking a Model's Claim Against a Source
The cost of a wrong answer falls on whoever passes it on. Picking the claims that carry weight, finding them in a source that is not the model, and dropping what cannot be found is the whole of the check.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Pick out which claims in an answer carry the weight, instead of checking every sentence
- Find a named claim in an independent source, or record that it could not be found
- Say why a reference the model produced is not evidence that the reference exists
1 · Read
A wrong answer costs whoever passes it on: you. So check the claim, not the confidence. An answer can sound smooth and sure yet still be wrong. Pick out the statements that carry weight: names, dates, numbers, quotes, and the sources the answer points to. Small greetings and jokes can wait. The weight-carrying claims are the ones worth your checking time.
Next, leave the original source. Open a fresh search and look for the same claim somewhere that did not produce it. If a model says a study exists, finding that study yourself is the check. Rereading the model's own sentence about it proves nothing. An independent source, or a clear note that none turned up, is the result you want.
Watch references most closely. A model can invent titles, authors, and links that look perfectly real. A reference the model produced is not evidence that the reference exists. Until you find the source with your own search, treat it as missing. The habit is simple: the model points, and you confirm elsewhere before you trust or repeat.
End with a firm rule. If a claim shows up nowhere outside the model's answer, do not pass it on. Either say it could not be confirmed or leave it out. Dropping one shaky line beats spreading a confident error that lands on you.
Weigh the claims, check them outside the model, and drop what you cannot find.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.