How do I fact-check an AI answer without being an expert?
You do not need to be an expert to fact-check an AI answer. You need a process that does not depend on you already knowing the answer. Make the model name a source you can actually open for each important claim, then paste the answer into a second and third model and ask them to find its weakest claim and say why. Claims that cannot name a real source, or that fall apart the moment another model looks at them, are the ones to distrust. This lets a non-expert catch errors that would otherwise require expertise, because the models do the cross-examination for you.
The problem with "just verify it"
The usual advice, verify what AI tells you, quietly assumes you already know enough to spot the error. If you did, you might not have asked. The trick is a process that surfaces bad claims without requiring you to be the judge of each fact.
The non-expert's method
- Demand openable sources. For each claim that matters, ask the model to give you a source you can click and read. Not "studies show." A real one. Claims with no checkable source go to the bottom of your trust pile immediately, no expertise required.
- Cross-examine with other models. Paste the answer into a different model and ask: "What is the weakest claim here, and why?" A second model will often flag a hallucination on sight, complete with the reason, because it did not make the same mistake. You just read the reason and decide.
- Ask what would make it wrong. A true claim can name the evidence that would disprove it. A hallucination just repeats itself. If nothing could make a claim wrong, treat it as a belief, not a fact.
In a run on this site, a non-technical reading was enough to catch a model inventing a company, because four other models named exactly why it was baseless. You did not have to be an expert. The room was. See the run, or run your own.
This is the Council Method, and it needs no coding: can I use it without coding. The full method is in Let the AI Be Smart.
Go deeper: this site's hub page on the Council Method is the full definition. Related questions: How do I know if an AI answer is correct?, How do I stop AI from hallucinating?, Do I need to know how to code to use the Council Method?.