AI School › Staying safe online · Lesson 98 of 130

🔍 Checking the sources

Before believing news, ask: who says it, how do they know, who else confirms it.

The internet and AI give us answers at incredible speed, but speed does not mean truth. Sometimes AI 'invents' things that seem true but are not: these are called hallucinations, and it says them with the same confidence it uses for correct things. Sites and videos can also contain mistakes or deliberate lies. That is why a good explorer of information is not happy with the first answer. Checking sources does not mean distrusting everything; it means taking care of what you put in your head, just as you carefully choose what you eat.

Three questions always help. First: who says it? A serious newspaper, a scientist, an expert, or an unknown profile? Second: how do they know? Are there proofs, real photos, studies, or is it just an opinion? Third: who else confirms it? If you find the same news in several trustworthy and different places, it is stronger. If you find it only in one place that shouts and wants to make you angry, wait. With AI you can even ask it to point you to sources, but then you check yourself that they really exist. Truth survives checking; a lie usually does not.

🎒 Try it in class (or at home)

Take a piece of news and try to answer the three questions: who says it, how they know, who else confirms it.

← Lesson 97: Don't give the AI your data · Lesson 99: Critical thinking is your shield →

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