# Five-Second Checks: what never to trust from an AI without looking

From Distru's No Bullshit AI Course, lesson 01-02 (learnai.distru.com). Print it, tape it next to the screen. CC0 1.0: copy, edit, share, no credit needed.
Version 1.0, September 2026. The checks are model-independent; they were written against answers from current Claude and ChatGPT models and hold for any of them.

The rule behind all six: the AI writes right answers and wrong answers in the same confident voice. Tone is not a check. Each line below is a check that takes about five seconds and does not depend on tone.

| # | It just gave you | Five-second check | If the check fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A rule, a regulation number, a "the state requires" | Ask: "Quote the exact line in what I pasted that says this." If you pasted nothing, there is no line. | Paste the actual regulation section or Metrc bulletin and add "answer only from this text". |
| 2 | A Metrc tag, an invoice number, a batch or lot ID | Search your own export for it (Ctrl-F / Cmd-F). Metrc tags are 24 characters. | Not in your export means it does not exist. Never let an ID leave the chat window until it has been found in a real file. |
| 3 | A total, an average, a count of rows | Redo one number in a spreadsheet. Or ask for the formula instead of the answer and paste the formula into the sheet. | Use the spreadsheet's number. The AI is often close, which is worse than wrong because close numbers do not get checked. |
| 4 | A date, a deadline, "expires in 30 days", a day of the week | Ask: "What did you take today's date to be?" It does not know today unless the app or you told it. | Put today's date in the first line of your prompt. Ask it to list every date it used. |
| 5 | Anything about a rule, form, price or product that may have changed recently | Ask: "What is the most recent date you have information about?" | Paste the current source (bulletin, notice, price sheet) with its date. Never trust a summary of a rule without the link to the rule. |
| 6 | A good answer, deep into a long chat | Scroll up. If you had to scroll to find what you told it earlier, the chat is too long and it may have forgotten page one. | Ask: "Summarize everything we established as a short brief I can paste into a fresh chat. Facts and decisions only." Start a new chat with that. |

## The two prompts on this card

Put this at the top of anything that has facts in it:

```
Today is [YYYY-MM-DD]. Use only the information I gave you below.
If something is missing, write MISSING instead of guessing.
For every rule, number or ID you state, quote the line in my paste it came from.
```

Run this when a chat gets long:

```
Summarize everything we have established so far as a short brief I can paste
into a fresh chat. Facts and decisions only, no recap of the conversation.
```

## What this card does not do

It does not make the AI more accurate. It makes you faster at catching it. Anything that goes to the state, a customer or your CPA still gets read by a person.