Lesson 714 of 1570
Spotting fake studies AI invents
AI sometimes invents studies that don't exist. Here's how to catch the fakes.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The big idea
- 2fake citations
- 3hallucinated sources
- 4verification
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The big idea
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.
Key terms in this lesson
End-of-lesson quiz
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