Workflow · Any role

Research a question with AI and check the sources

Get to a sourced answer without passing on something the AI made up.

Try with checksIt is worth trying only with the checks on this page.

For: Anyone at work who needs an answer they can stand behind

Go to the steps Test it on your own work

What the evidence says

Partly studied. The closest studies look at a narrower or different task.

Finding information with AI: not enough evidence yet (evidence strength 0 of 5)
Analysis and consulting with AI: may work for tasks that sit inside what the AI does well (evidence strength 2 of 5)
AI in systematic reviews: not enough evidence yet (evidence strength 1 of 5)

These studies test consulting-style analysis and systematic reviews. The one study we count on looking things up directly used medical students on made-up cases, and the tool's maker ran it.

Also worth knowing (not yet graded by us):

In randomised experiments on product research, people finished faster with an AI search tool than with a search engine, and were about as accurate while the AI was right. When it was wrong, they relied on it too much and made worse choices. Spatharioti et al., CHI 2025 (authors at Microsoft Research; not a work task, so not counted in our rating)

This workflow itself is our recommended way of working, not a tested method. Studies searched to 2 November 2026.

Before you start

Write the question in one sentence, and decide what you will use the answer for.
Use a tool that searches the web and shows its sources.
Keep client names and confidential details out of the question unless your employer has approved the tool for them.

The steps

Replace the words in square brackets with your own. Stay in the same chat for the next prompt, unless a step says otherwise.

You
Write down what you already know and what would change your mind. It stops the AI's first answer from setting your view.

Ask for an answer with a source for each claim, and a list of what it could not find.

Prompt

I need to answer this question for work: [question]. It will be used to [decision or purpose].

If my question assumes something you can't confirm, say that first. Answer in under 200 words. After each claim, quote the sentence that supports it and give the source's title, publisher, date and link. Only give links you opened. Prefer original sources such as official statistics, the research paper or the company's own page, over articles about them.

Then list: (1) anything you could not find a source for, (2) where sources disagree, (3) what would make this answer out of date.

You
Open every source you plan to rely on, and find the sentence that supports the claim. Delete any claim where you can't.

Ask it to argue the other side, so that you see what the first answer left out.

Prompt

Here is my answer after removing claims I couldn't confirm: [paste]. Argue against it. What is the strongest evidence that it is wrong or incomplete? Give links. If you can't find any, say so rather than inventing a counter-argument.

You
Write the final answer in your own words, and keep the links with it.

How to catch its mistakes

Every link opens, and the page says what the AI claims it says. Made-up or mismatched sources are a common failure.
Numbers match the source exactly, including the year and the group measured.
The source is the original, not a summary of it.
You looked for at least one source the AI did not offer.

When not to use this

You can't check the sources yourself, for example because you can't read the field's technical language. Ask someone who can.
The answer decides someone's health, legal position or money. Go to a qualified person.
The question is about something very recent, where search tools are often thin or out of date.

Tools

A general AI assistant with web search that shows its sources. Examples: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot. We chose these because they are common in workplace software, not because they are the best. We leave out Claude products as examples, because we draft this site with Claude. AI assistants compared has them all, with dated facts. Use whichever your employer has approved. The steps work with any tool of this type. We take no money from AI companies.

Find out if it works for you

People often misjudge how much AI helps them. Try this on your next 10 similar tasks, letting a coin flip decide which ones use AI. What to measure: Share of claims that survive when you open the source. Your results stay in your browser. Start the self-test →

If you manage people

Agree that any AI-assisted answer going to others carries its links. Ask to see sources, not whether AI was used.

Written by AI Adoption's editors as our own recommendation, last checked 5 November 2026. It has not been reviewed by an outside practitioner. Before publishing, we ran its prompts once on made-up samples with a second AI model, also from Anthropic. That is a check on the wording, not a test of whether the workflow works for you. Disclosure: AI Adoption uses AI tools in its research and editorial work, including Claude from Anthropic. No company has any say in this page. Reuse under CC BY 4.0. Spotted an error? Tell us.