Your AI gave you a citation. Here’s how to check it.

What does a citation prove?

A citation gives you a place to investigate. OpenAI’s ChatGPT search guidance explicitly notes that search results and citations can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect. Google’s grounding documentation explains how search evidence can be attached to generated responses. Neither replaces reading the evidence.

A source may discuss a topic without supporting a specific number, causal statement, or claim of availability. Check the exact relationship between the sentence and the cited material.

Use this five-step verification routine

Start with the claims whose accuracy would change a decision. This is a practical editorial routine proposed by AiLookout.

1. Split the answer into individual factual claims.
2. Open the primary announcement, original paper, or official documentation.
3. Find the passage that supports each claim.
4. Check the event date, publication date, scope, and stated limitations.
5. Mark each claim supported, qualified, contradicted, or unverified.

A worked citation check

Suppose an AI answer says: “The new tool is available to everyone and halves the time needed for every task.” This invented sentence is deliberately overbroad.

An announcement might instead describe availability for selected accounts and a time reduction in a particular evaluation. Rewrite the sentence to preserve those conditions; do not carry the broad claim forward.

What if the source is unavailable?

Keep the claim unverified until you can examine a suitable source. Search for the original publisher and exact topic. Do not treat another AI answer as independent confirmation.

For a research paper, separate an experimental result from the authors’ interpretation. For a product announcement, attribute vendor performance claims and avoid implying that you ran independent tests.