Before You Trust That AI Output
This one-page checklist is for anyone using AI at work or at home. It helps you check accuracy, privacy, risk and whether a human second opinion is needed.
What is inside the checklist?
- Five quick questions. A short check before acting on any AI output.
- Hallucination warning signs. Simple ways to notice invented or unsupported claims.
- Second-opinion rules. Clear examples of when another person should review the result.
- Privacy red flags. Reminders about personal, customer and confidential data.
How to use it
Keep the checklist near the place where you normally use AI. Before copying an answer into an email, document, decision or public post, read through the five questions.
A quick check may confirm that the output is low risk. It may also show that you need to verify a source, remove private details or ask a qualified person.
Common warning signs
- Unverifiable detail. The answer includes a source, case, quotation or statistic you cannot find.
- Overconfidence. The wording sounds certain even though the topic is unclear or disputed.
- Recent or niche topic. The model may not have enough current or reliable information.
- Sensitive data. The task requires personal, financial, medical, customer or confidential information.
- High consequences. A mistake could affect money, safety, rights, health or another person.
When to get a second opinion
Ask a qualified person to review the output when it affects health, law, finance, safety, employment, education, contracts or vulnerable people. UK courts have dealt with fabricated AI case citations, and FCA research highlights concerns about accuracy and protection when consumers use AI for financial guidance.
For normal low-risk tasks, a second opinion may simply mean checking an official source or asking a colleague to sense-check the result.
The checklist is a pause button, not a guarantee. You remain responsible for how the final output is used.
Prepared by AI Did This
Last reviewed: 28 July 2026
Sources
- UK National Cyber Security Centre: ChatGPT and large language models: what's the risk? (opens in a new tab) (14 March 2023)
Supports the hallucination, verification and privacy warning signs.
- Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Judicial Guidance (opens in a new tab) (31 October 2025)
Supports the legal second-opinion point.
- Financial Conduct Authority: The Mills Review: AI and the future of retail financial services (opens in a new tab) (6 July 2026)
Supports the financial second-opinion point.
- Information Commissioner's Office: Guidance on AI and data protection (opens in a new tab)
Supports the privacy red flags.