All learning
Practical advice
Keep the source beside every important AI answer
Make checking faster by requiring the answer to point back to the document, data or approved fact it used.
The practical answer
Start with this principle
An answer is easier to trust when a person can trace it. Ask the AI to show which source supports each material statement and to label anything it inferred.
Do this in order
Three steps you can use today
Limit the allowed sources
Name the documents or links the AI may use. Tell it not to fill gaps from general knowledge when the task needs an internal fact.
Request precise references
Ask for the filename and section, page or row where practical. A broad claim that the answer came from the documents is not enough for a high-impact decision.
Separate fact from inference
Require assumptions and interpretation to appear under their own heading. Verify the source facts before debating the conclusion.
Copy and adapt
Answer with its source
Ask for this format whenever the answer will be acted on.
ANSWER: ......................................................
BASED ON: ....................................................
(the document, page or figure the answer came from)
NOT CONFIRMED: ...............................................
(anything the AI inferred rather than read)
Then add: "If you cannot point to a source for part of the answer, say so
rather than filling the gap."
An answer you cannot trace is a claim, not a fact.