Verify generated references before they become evidence.
FactSentinel helps reviewers inspect AI-assisted citations, source names, and claim trails before a reference list is published, shared, taught, filed, or cited.
AI references can look complete while the evidence is missing.
A fabricated citation often has the right shape: formal title, plausible authors, journal name, date, and policy-friendly wording. The useful review question is whether the source exists and supports the exact claim beside it.
Existence
Check whether the cited work exists at the title, author, journal, publisher, date, and identifier level.
Support
Separate a real source from a relevant source. A citation can exist and still fail to support the claim.
Context
Look for quote context, publication type, caveats, broken links, circular references, and stale summaries.
A citation check should slow down the handoff.
Use FactSentinel as a first-pass evidence review before a generated answer moves into a document, article, syllabus, policy memo, or research note.
Start with the exact claim
- Keep the wording intact
- Avoid softened paraphrases
- Review claim and citation together
Inspect the source trail
- Open supporting links
- Check whether the source exists
- Compare evidence to the claim
Escalate uncertainty
- Use caveats as review signals
- Treat disagreement as a stop sign
- Verify manually before publication
Use it before AI-assisted references leave draft mode.
The citation workflow is built for editors, researchers, educators, policy reviewers, and source-aware readers who need an inspectable trail before a reference becomes part of the record.
When fake references reached a national AI policy draft.
South Africa withdrew a draft AI policy after fictitious sources appeared in the reference list. It is a direct example of why citation review needs to verify the source trail, not just the prose.
Need publisher context as well as claim evidence?
Source ratings and claim checks solve different parts of the trust problem. Use the comparison when you need to separate publisher-level signals from claim-level evidence review.
Need to search published fact checks first?
Google Fact Check Explorer can help find prior fact checks. FactSentinel helps inspect the citation or source trail in front of you when the exact reference still needs review.
Need newsroom fact-checking and correction context?
Full Fact can help when a claim already has published coverage, corrections context, or AI monitoring leads. FactSentinel helps inspect whether the exact citation or source trail still supports the claim.
Need to compare political ratings and citation review?
PolitiFact can help when a political claim already has a published rating. FactSentinel helps inspect the citation or source trail when the exact reference still needs evidence.
Need to pick which claims deserve review?
Claim spotting can help prioritize large text sets. FactSentinel helps inspect the selected claim or citation once the review target is clear.
Common questions
What is an AI citation checker?
It is a review workflow for checking whether AI-assisted citations, references, and source trails can be inspected before anyone relies on them.
Can FactSentinel prove every reference is real?
No. FactSentinel is a first-pass workflow. It surfaces sources, reasoning, caveats, confidence, and model disagreement so a human can decide what needs manual verification.
When should I check generated citations?
Check them before publication, classroom use, research handoff, policy review, legal filing, or any workflow where a false citation could create trust damage.
Should I use the web checker or extension?
Use the web checker for pasted claims and draft text. Use the Chrome extension when you want to check selected text from a webpage, source, article, or research note.
Check the citation before you trust the source trail.
Use FactSentinel when generated text includes references that need visible evidence, caveats, and human review before they move forward.