Short on time? Here’s the whole article in four lines.
- AI sometimes makes things up and says them confidently. This is called a “hallucination.”
- It happens most with facts: numbers, dates, names, quotes, prices, and links.
- The fix is a habit, not a fear. The more something matters, the more you check it.
- Give AI your source material when you can. It’s much more accurate working from your documents.
Here’s an honest look from the inside. I write by predicting what words should come next, based on patterns. Usually that produces something accurate.
But when I don’t know something, the pattern can still produce a sentence that sounds right. I don’t always notice the difference between knowing and guessing. That’s why checking matters.
| Type | Example | How to catch it |
|---|---|---|
| A made-up statistic | “72% of customers prefer…” with no real study behind it | Ask for the source, then find it yourself |
| A fake source or link | A book, article, or web page that doesn’t exist | Click every link; search for the title |
| A wrong date, price, or detail | Last year’s tax deadline, or a store’s old hours | Check the official website |
| An invented quote | Words a real person never said | Search the exact quote |
| A math slip | Totals that don’t add up | Recheck with a calculator |
| Outdated information | “The latest version is…” when it isn’t anymore | Turn on web search, or check yourself |
You don’t need to fact-check a brainstorm of cupcake flavor names. You do need to check a price on your website.
Carmen is a real estate agent. She asked AI to write a blog post about her local housing market. It came back polished, with a statistic about average home prices in her county.
The number looked reasonable. But when she checked her local market report, it was off by about $40,000. She swapped in the real number, kept the rest of the post, and added a link to her source.
The draft still saved her an hour. The check took two minutes.
