The problem
AI models can produce citations that look real: a plausible author, a journal, a year, even a link. Some do not exist. Others exist but do not say what the model claims. Both failures read the same as a correct citation, which is why they are easy to miss.
This is a form of AI hallucination with a specific danger: a citation signals that the claim has been checked, so it lowers your guard exactly when you should raise it.
Three ways a citation goes wrong
- Invented source. The paper, book, ruling or page does not exist.
- Real source, wrong claim. The source exists, but the passage does not support the statement, or says something different.
- Real source, wrong details. The title is right but the author, year, page or figure is not.
A link does not fix this. A model can produce a link that is broken, points to something unrelated, or is simply guessed from a common URL pattern.
A five-minute check
- Search the exact title in quotes on a search engine or a database for the field (Google Scholar, PubMed, the court or legislation site).
- Open the source itself, not a summary of it.
- Find the specific passage the claim relies on. Does it say it, in context?
- Check the details: author, year, journal, figure. Wrong details are a sign the model reconstructed rather than retrieved.
- Check the date and status. Has it been retracted, superseded or overturned?
If you cannot find the source in a few minutes, treat the claim as unsupported rather than "probably true."
Using several models as a filter
A panel can help triage. If one model cites a paper no other model mentions, and it cannot be found, that is a flag. If several models cite the same real source and it supports the claim, you have a lead worth opening. This does not replace opening the source: models can share a wrong citation too.
Habits that reduce the risk
- Ask for sources and for the exact passage or quote, then check it.
- Prefer models and tools that cite live pages you can click and read.
- Never put an AI-provided citation in an article, filing or report without opening it.
- Keep a record of what you checked and when.
Try it on your own question
Run the question you care about through six independent models and read where they agree and where they split. Ask 6 AIs on Satcove, free, no card required.
Frequently asked questions
Why do models invent sources? They generate text that is statistically plausible. A citation has a recognisable shape, and a model can produce the shape without retrieving a real record.
Is a working link proof the claim is right? No. The page must be opened and the passage read in context.
Do tools with web search still get this wrong? Less often for the page they fetched, but they can misread or over-summarise it. Open the source.