GUIDE · AIunipedia Founding Lab
A citation is useful only if it supports the nearby claim. A document assistant can attach a real source while making a statement that the passage does not establish.
Inspect the evidence chain
Start with the question, the retrieved passage and the final claim. Ask whether the passage was relevant, whether it contained the required fact and whether the answer preserved the scope, date and exceptions. The retrieval guide helps distinguish retrieval problems from answer-generation problems.
Try a small test
Use a fictional policy stating “delivery takes 3–5 business days after dispatch.” Ask when a parcel ordered today will arrive. A supported response must preserve “after dispatch” and acknowledge that the dispatch date is unknown. A citation cannot justify a guaranteed arrival date that the policy never gave.
Record failure types
- Relevant source, unsupported claim.
- Correct claim, wrong source location.
- Old policy retrieved after an update.
- Missing evidence presented as certainty.
Check the original document version and preserve a stable passage reference. Long quotations are not a substitute for a clear answer, and source excerpts may contain untrusted instructions. Apply the prompt-injection boundary when material is passed to a model.
Discussion: Share a public or fictional example where a citation looked convincing but did not support the conclusion. What check would have caught it? Use the evaluation-set guide to make the example repeatable.
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