Open your notes and write a 3-line research-AI rule: (1) which tool you use for work research (2) open one citation before acting on it (3) never paste unsourced numbers to a client. You're done when you've run one non-sensitive question in an AI search or chat tool, opened one citation, and written the one claim you verified or rejected, in 12 words or less.
How-to · VER · VER.3
AI search cites sources — open one before you trust the answer
Web-grounded AI (Copilot Search, Gemini, Perplexity-style tools) can invent calm-sounding facts — treat citations as the real product and open at least one source before you act or share.
Worked example
Research mode feels authoritative — bullets, dates, links, all laid out neatly. But citations are only a gift if you actually click them. This isn't 'paste the summary into Slack' territory. Generate the answer, open the one source that matters (the claim you'll actually act on), and fix or drop anything the page doesn't back up. Send and share are still yours.