Checking answers: AI can be wrong
See a chatbot make a confident mistake, and learn a simple routine for checking answers, sources and risky advice.
Chatbots can be wrong. Here's how to check their answers. Here's a question with a clear answer. The chatbot answers confidently, but it's wrong. Chinua Achebe was a great writer, but he never won the Nobel Prize. Asking it to check can help, and this time it's right. Wole Soyinka won in 1986. But you shouldn't rely on luck.
How to check an AI answer
First, ask the chatbot how sure it is, and why. Second, search for the answer on trusted websites. Third, compare two or three sources. Do they agree? Fourth, ask a person who knows, like a teacher, a doctor, or an expert. And take extra care with numbers, dates, names and quotes. That's where mistakes hide. You can ask a chatbot where its information comes from. But be careful. Chatbots sometimes invent books, articles or links that don't exist. Always open the source, and check that it's real.
Extra care with
Health. Ask a doctor or a pharmacist. Money. Ask your bank, or a trusted adult. The law. Use official sources, or ask a lawyer. And news. Check trusted news websites.
Quick check
Quick check. A chatbot gives you a date for your history homework. What should you do? Check it, in your textbook or on a trusted website. Options: Check it in your textbook or a trusted website; Copy it without checking; Assume it's right because it sounds sure; Change the date at random.
Recap
Chatbots can be confidently wrong. Search and compare trusted sources. Check that any sources are real. And take extra care with health, money, law and news.
Key points
- {'Chatbots can give wrong answers confidently. Example': 'Wole Soyinka, not Chinua Achebe, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.'}
- Check answers by searching trusted websites, comparing two or three sources and asking a person who knows.
- Chatbots can invent sources, so open any source and check it's real.
- Take extra care with numbers, dates, names, quotes, and health, money, legal and news topics.
Try it: Trust or check?
Decide what to do with each answer.