Spotting fake studies AI invents

AI is famous for inventing studies — complete with author names, journals, and years that all sound real. The trick: every real study has a DOI link or shows up on Google Scholar. If you can't find it, it probably doesn't exist.

Some examples

• Search the exact study title in Google Scholar — no results = made up.
• Search the author's name — if they don't exist online, the study doesn't either.
• Look for a DOI link (a string like 10.xxxx/yyyy). Fake studies usually don't have one.
• Real studies have abstracts you can read; fake ones can't be opened anywhere.

Try it!

Ask AI for 3 studies on a topic. Try to look up each one on Google Scholar. Tally how many were real.

Practice this safely

Try this with a school, hobby, or family example where the stakes are low. Use the AI output as a draft you can question, not as the final answer.

1. 1Ask AI to explain fake citations in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
2. 2Give it one detail from "Spotting fake studies AI invents" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
3. 3Check hallucinated sources against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.