Checking names, numbers and dates in AI text

Why these three slip through

Names, numbers and dates are the details a reader can't judge by tone. A sentence with the wrong supplier's name reads just as smoothly as the right one. An AI tool can produce false or misleading information presented as fact¹, and a small detail is the easiest place for that to hide.

They're also the details that cost most when wrong. A wrong price goes in a quote, a wrong date goes on a notice, and a misspelt name goes in front of the person you're trying to impress.

Names

A name is any label for a person, business, product, place or title. Check each one against the source that owns it.

• Spell people's names the way they sign them. Look at their email signature or their own web page.
• Check business names and any registration details on the official register for your country, not on a draft.
• Product and part names should match the maker's own page or manual.
• Check job titles and organisations too. A tool can join a real name to the wrong employer.

If a draft names someone you can't find anywhere, treat the name as made up until shown otherwise. Tools can produce plausible-sounding falsehoods¹.

Numbers

A number is any figure: a price, a quantity, a percentage, a measurement. Run these tests.

• Redo the sum. Don't trust totals, discounts or averages the draft worked out. Do them again on a calculator or in a spreadsheet.
• Look for the original. A primary source serves as an original source of information about the topic². A price should come from your price list, a figure about the market from the body that published it.
• Check the unit and the currency. Dollars could be Australian, New Zealand or US. Kilograms and pounds, or metres and feet, can swap quietly.
• Check what the number counts. "Per month" and "per year", or "including tax" and "excluding tax", change the meaning completely. Whether prices include sales tax depends on the country, so confirm it with the official tax body or your accountant.
• Check the round figures. Very tidy numbers with no source are a prompt to ask where they came from.

Never copy a number into customer text because the draft sounded sure about it.

Dates and times

A date can be right and still be misread. In the United States the civilian vernacular is month, day, year, written as m/d/yy or m/d/yyyy³. Australia is listed with many other countries that write the day first or the year first³. So a date such as 04/05 can mean two different days, depending on the reader.

• Write the month as a word, not a number, in anything you send.
• Check that the weekday matches the date on a real calendar.
• State the time zone when a time goes to people in more than one place.
• Check "this week", "next month" or "last year" in the draft. A tool may not know today's date unless it has been told it, so check relative phrases like "this week" or "next month" against a real calendar.
• Check deadlines against the rule or notice they come from. A tax or legal deadline should come from the official source for that country, not from a draft.

Using the diagram

Do the same for each name, number and date. Checking is the process of verifying accuracy, and it can happen before or after publishing⁴. Before is cheaper.

Exceptions

If you supplied the figure in your prompt, you only need to check that it was copied across unchanged. Read it digit by digit against your own record. If a draft gives a range or an estimate, make sure the words "about" or "up to" survived, since a tool can drop them.