Module 4 · Career, projects and honesty Lesson 14 of 15
Limits, hallucinations and how to check
These tools predict plausible text. It cannot tell when it has gone wrong, and it will fill a gap rather than report it unless the brief tells it not to That is a mechanism, not a moral failing — and the habit it demands is the habit of asking "where did this come from?" out loud, every time, before you use an answer.
The concept
A model does not look things up unless it has been given a way to look things up, and even then it can attach a real number to the wrong claim. It cannot tell when it has gone wrong, and it will fill a gap rather than report it unless the brief tells it not to
So the rule is: numbers, dates, names, citations and legal or medical claims get checked in a primary source before they leave your hands. Everything else — drafts, structure, explanations, practice — is fair game.
Three questions to ask before you trust an answer. Where did this come from? What would make it false? Who is the original source, and can I open it? If the third one has no answer, you have writing material, not facts.
Open two sources at random and find one NOT FOUND. Those two actions catch most of what an autonomous run produces that is not true.
Worked example
Ask for a comparison without requiring sources and you will get a complete table with invented prices. The table will look finished, which is what makes it dangerous.
Your practice task
Ask for one statistic with its source, then open the source. Sometimes it exists. Sometimes the citation is invented, and the number is close enough to a real one to be dangerous. Either way you will remember the exercise.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
A model does not look things up unless it has been given a way to look things up, and even then it can attach a real number to the wrong claim.
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Finish every lesson to unlock the certificate. Each one ends in a practice task — do them and the final project brief writes itself.