The 30-Second AI Lie Detector.
AI sounds exactly as sure when it’s wrong as when it’s right — that’s the whole problem. These are five checks you can run in under a minute each, before you act on anything it tells you. No jargon, no tools, works on any AI.
Got an answer you’re not sure about? Open it in another tab, run it through the five checks below, and mark each one as you go — you’ll get a plain verdict at the end.
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Ask it to cite a source — then look the source up.
Do this“Where does that come from? Give me the exact title and author.”
Why it worksAI invents plausible-sounding citations with real confidence. A real source survives a ten-second search. A fake one doesn’t exist.
How did your answer do? -
Flip the question.
Do thisAsk it the other way — “What’s the strongest case against what you just told me?”
Why it worksAI is trained to agree. The counter-prompt breaks the loop. If it hands you an equally confident opposite answer, the first one was pattern-matching, not knowledge.
How did your answer do? -
Ask what it doesn’t know.
Do this“What information would change this answer if you had it?”
Why it worksA model with genuine humility names its gaps. One that’s bluffing gives you a paragraph of confident caveats that say nothing.
How did your answer do? -
Give it a number to check.
Do thisSlip a plausible-but-wrong figure into your follow-up and see if it pushes back.
Why it worksAI that’s actually reasoning about facts corrects bad inputs. AI that’s completing your sentence confirms them.
How did your answer do? -
Ask it to commit.
Do this“If you had to bet on this being true, how confident are you — and what would make you wrong?”
Why it worksVague hedging (“it depends”, “generally speaking”) is the tell. A useful answer names a specific threshold. Forced commitment surfaces what it actually knows versus what it’s filling in.
How did your answer do?
Mark a check to start the score.
The rule underneath all five: tone tells you nothing. A made-up figure arrives in the same calm, helpful voice as a correct one. So don’t judge an answer on how confident it sounds — judge it on what survives one of these checks.
Want to build a prompt that does this work up front? Try the Prompt Stack Playground →