Get answers you can put in front of a client without wondering which number was invented. Four prompts make Claude or ChatGPT show where every fact came from, admit what it doesn’t know, and mark its guesses. Fill in the form and they’re written around your work.
What you’ll need.
Get these set up first. Everything below uses them.
Claude
The AI assistant I use for writing, building and thinking things through.Free planChatGPT
Ask questions, write, and make and edit images by describing what you want.Free plan
Some of these are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. See every tool I use.
Why AI makes things up
One paragraph. Knowing why makes the fix obvious.
Claude and ChatGPT write by predicting the most likely next words, and the way they’re trained rewards a confident guess more than “I don’t know” (OpenAI’s own research says exactly this). So when they’re missing a number, a quote or a source, they can fill the gap with something that sounds right. The fix is to give them permission not to know, give them your sources, and make them show their working.
Tell this page what you’re working on
Your answers write all four prompts. They stay in your browser and nobody else sees them.
Prompt 1: set the ground rules
Rules at the start of a chat shape every answer after it. This one gives AI permission to say “I don’t know”.
- Start a new chat in Claude or ChatGPT.
- Attach your sources if you have them: your price list, notes, a report, a transcript.
- Paste this, send it, and wait for “Got it”. Then ask for what you need.
Before we start, here are the rules for this chat. I'm working on: [WHAT YOURE WORKING ON] These things must be accurate: [WHAT MUST BE ACCURATE] 1. If you don't know something, say "I don't know". A gap is fine. A made-up answer isn't. 2. Never invent a number, date, name, quote, price, statistic, study or link. If one belongs somewhere and you don't have it, write [NEED: what's missing] and keep going. 3. Use my sources first. If you use anything else, say where it came from. 4. Mark anything you're unsure of with (unsure) right after it. 5. If my question is unclear or you're missing something important, ask me before you write. Reply "Got it" and wait for my first request.
Prompt 2: make it cite its sources
A fact with a link is a fact you can check in ten seconds. A fact without one is a guess until you prove it.
When you need facts from the web
Both apps can search the web and link their sources. In Claude, it searches when it helps; if you see a Web search option under the + button, switch it on. In ChatGPT, it searches on its own too, or type / and choose Search.
Search the web to answer this: [your question] Context: I need this for [WHAT YOURE WORKING ON]. - Use official or original sources where you can: the company's own site, the government page, the original study. - After every fact, put the source in brackets with its link. - Tell me the date each source was published or last updated. - If sources disagree, show me both and say which you'd trust and why. - If you can't find a source for something, say "No source found" instead of answering from memory.
When the facts are in your own documents
Attach the files first. Pulling exact quotes before answering keeps the answer tied to what your document really says.
Use only the documents I've attached. Don't use anything you already know. Step 1: Find the word-for-word quotes that answer my question. Number them. If you can't find any, say "No relevant quotes found" and stop. Step 2: Answer using only those quotes. After each point, add the quote number in brackets, like [2]. My question: [your question]
Prompt 3: make it check its own work
Checking every claim against a source is one of the ways Anthropic recommends to cut down made-up answers.
Send this straight after any answer you plan to use. Same chat.
Now check your last answer like a strict editor. 1. List every factual claim in it: every number, name, date, price, quote and statement of fact. Pay most attention to: [WHAT MUST BE ACCURATE]. 2. For each one, tell me where it came from: a source I gave you (quote it), a web page (link it), or your own memory. 3. Mark each one: CHECKED, UNSURE or MADE UP. 4. Rewrite the answer. Keep the CHECKED claims. Remove the MADE UP ones and put [REMOVED] where they were. Put (unsure) after the UNSURE ones. 5. Finish with a list of everything I should check myself before I use this.
Prompt 4: keep facts apart from guesses
Use this for planning and advice, where a guess dressed up as a fact does the most damage.
Split your answer into three parts. FACTS: things you can back up with a source I gave you or a link. Put the source after each one. GUESSES: things you think are likely but can't prove. Say why you think each one. QUESTIONS: what you'd need from me to turn a guess into a fact. Keep the three apart. Don't let a guess sit in the facts.
Do the last check yourself
The prompts cut the made-up stuff down a lot. The final check on anything that matters is yours.
- Open every link. Make sure the page says what the answer says it does.
- Search the source for every quote. It should be there word for word.
- Check every number against where it came from.
- Fill or cut every [NEED] and [REMOVED] gap.
- For anything big, ask the same question in a new chat. If the two answers disagree, at least one of them is wrong.
Take your downloads
Tick what you want. Each file is written from your answers in step 2.
Your tools, one more time.
If something goes wrong.
It gave me a link that doesn’t work
Reply: "That link doesn’t open. Search the web again and give me a working link for that fact, or tell me you can’t find one." Then remove the fact if it can’t.
It still made up a number
Paste Prompt 1 again and say: "You broke rule 2. Replace every number you can’t source with [NEED]." Long chats drift, so a new chat with the ground rules at the top helps too.
It says “I don’t know” to everything now
That means it needs more to go on. Attach your sources, or ask it to search the web. Then ask what it needs: "What would you need from me to answer this?"
The quotes from my document aren’t really in it
Check the file uploaded properly and isn’t a scanned image. Then use the "Cite your documents" prompt, which makes it pull exact quotes before it answers.
It agrees with me every time I push back
Ask it to check the source instead of your opinion: "Don’t agree with me to be polite. Check the source and tell me who’s right."