Prove It · Module 2: The five checks
Check five: the second opinion
Check five: ask again, differently. Same question, different tool, or the same tool in a fresh chat with different wording. If two independent attempts produce the same specific answer, your confidence goes up. If they differ, you have found exactly where to look.
This check is cheap and people skip it because it feels redundant. It is not. Two models trained differently will invent different things; where they agree is more likely to be real. Where they disagree is a flag, and often the disagreement is on the one figure you were about to quote.
Together, the five checks form the routine. Specifics, sources, premise, counter-case, second opinion. Say it until it is automatic. Five minutes for most outputs, longer for anything that matters, and the habit is worth more than any single catch.
| Check | Catches |
|---|---|
| 1 Specifics | Wrong dates, figures, names, quotations |
| 2 Sources | Fabricated or misattributed references |
| 3 Premise | Agreement with an assumption you built in |
| 4 Counter-case | Reasoning gaps and missing considerations |
| 5 Second opinion | Anything one model invented and another would not |
In practice. A researcher asked two tools for the sample size of a well-known study. One said 1,200, one said 12,000. Both were confident. The paper said 1,176. The disagreement was the only signal that either was wrong, and it sent her to the source.
At your desk. Take one specific claim from your output. Ask a different tool, or a fresh chat with new wording. Compare. Then write the five checks on a card and put it where you work.
Write it down.
- The claim I second-opinioned:
- Did the answers agree:
- Where my five-check card lives: