Marta
When the answer starts from bad data
An answer can be perfectly reasoned and false, because the value it started from was misread.
You ask when a certificate expires and get a date. The date is wrong, but not because it was invented: it is the one on record, and that one was stored wrong the day the document was read. The answer is faithful to what is there; what is there is what fails.
Two failures that look alike and are fixed differently
| Symptom | Where it comes from | How it is fixed |
|---|---|---|
| It says something that exists nowhere | It filled a gap | Ask for the source and check |
| It says a stored value, but a wrong one | It was misread from the document | Fix the value on its record, not the answer |
| It says an old value | There is a newer version unrecorded | Register the new version |
| It cannot find something that exists | Out of reach or badly named | A different problem with a different fix |
Important
The second row is the most deceptive, for one specific reason: **if the value is stored wrong, the answer will be coherent, confident and wrong — and asking again gives the same result**. Rephrasing the question does not expose it; only opening the document does. So when a figure or a date will have consequences, the check is not rereading the answer: it is looking at the paper it came from.
How to catch it early
- 1
Ask where it comes from before using it
A value with a document behind it is checked in ten seconds.
- 2
Distrust anything that sounds too neat
First-of-the-month dates, round amounts: the readings that fail most.
- 3
And cross-check against something you know
If the supplier invoices monthly, an annual figure jars by itself.
Watch out
What to do on finding one, and almost nobody does: **fix it at source, not only in the email you were writing**. Correct the figure in the message to the client while the stored value stays wrong and it will surface again tomorrow — in a report, in an expiry alert, or in the answer given to a colleague. A misread value does not bother you once: it bothers you every time anyone asks, always with the same confidence.
What reduces these cases at the root
Worth knowing
This is not specific to the assistant: any report, alert or dashboard using that value gives the same result. The difference is that an answer written in plain language sounds more convincing, and so gets checked less.
›Can I ask it to check the document?
It can cite where the value comes from; checking the paper says so is yours.
›What if the document is wrong, not the reading?
Then it is the issuer's problem: ask for a correction and record it.
›Is it worth reviewing old values?
Those in use, yes; start with the ones driving an expiry date.
A real case
The situation
A company sends a client an expiry date that turned out to be misread.
What you do
- Fixes the value on the document record, not only in the email
What you get
The renewal alert lands when it should and nobody else receives the wrong date.
The situation
The answer rests on a misread figure.
What you do
- Corrects the figure in its document
What you get
The next answer is already right.
The situation
The error is corrected in the answer, not at source.
What you do
- Corrects it where the figure originated
What you get
The error does not return tomorrow.
The situation
An odd figure is spotted and ignored.
What you do
- Checks the original document
What you get
The error closes on detection.
The situation
The same bad figure affects several answers.
What you do
- Corrects the source and asks again
What you get
Every answer is fixed at once.
The situation
A decision is taken on an answer built from a bad figure.
What you do
- Checks the source before deciding
What you get
The decision rests on what is true.
This article answers
- marta gave me the wrong date
- the answer does not match the document
- the assistant gives incorrect data
- why does it quote an amount that is wrong