Lesson 1480 of 1570
AI Citations: Why It Makes Up Sources and How to Stop It
AI confidently invents fake academic sources — here's how to catch it before your teacher does.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The big idea
- 2hallucination
- 3verification
- 4Google Scholar
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The big idea
AI invents realistic-looking journal citations that don't exist — every single source must be verified before you cite it.
Some examples
- Ask AI for a source, then Google the exact title — half won't exist.
- Use Google Scholar or your library database to verify every citation.
- Better: ask AI to suggest TOPICS to research, then find sources yourself.
Try it!
Ask AI for 5 sources on a topic. Try to find each one. Track how many were fake.
Key terms in this lesson
End-of-lesson quiz
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