Field note 24 / 24·5 min
Let AI help. Keep a way to check.
Fluent output can be useful without being verified or safe to paste into.
Give the task a verification plan
Generative AI can produce confident errors, including invented references and plausible-looking calculations. Treat a response as material to assess. Before using it, decide what would establish correctness: an original source, a reproducible calculation, a test, or a qualified person’s review.
Protect information and judgement
Use approved tools and check your workplace’s data rules. Avoid sharing passwords, private identifiers, customer records, or confidential work in a service that is not authorised for that data. Removing a name may not remove every identifying detail.
Ask for assumptions and uncertainty, then verify them yourself. Opening a cited source matters more than seeing a citation-shaped sentence. For consequential financial, health, or legal decisions, find current authoritative information and appropriate professional help instead of relying on a generated answer. AI can help structure a comparison or explain a checked formula; it does not take responsibility for your decision. Keep a record of the inputs and checks when using output in work.
A claim you can reproduce
AI says a 500 purchase with a 20% discount costs 450. Check the arithmetic: 500 × (1 − 0.20) = 400. A detailed explanation would not rescue the wrong result. For a cited workplace rule, the equivalent check is opening the actual current policy and reading its scope.
Illustrative numbers, in consistent units.One thing to try
Take one low-stakes AI-assisted task. Write its allowed inputs, the claim that needs checking, and the independent check you will perform.
An AI answer includes a convincing citation. What should happen before you rely on it?
Source notes
These references support the general principles. Product terms and legal protections vary by country.
- Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative AI ProfileUS National Institute of Standards and Technology · Checked 2026-11-03
For general education. Examples do not include every fee, tax, personal circumstance or local rule, and are not individual advice.