How Do We Know The AI 

Isn't Making Stuff Up?

*Image created with NanoBanana2

@LisaBerghoff

I was working with our freshman advisory classes, teaching them about the ethical considerations when using AI, and also teaching them how to use some of the AI tools we have available to us in school.  At the end of one of the presentations, a student asked if there was any way to tell how much of an AI response output was made up by AI and how much of it was real. This was an excellent question. Frankly, I was a little embarrassed that I had not thought of addressing this with the other classes. I was excited to show the students the Double Check Response feature in Gemini. 

What Is Double Check Response?

Double Check Response is a feature that is built into Gemini. After you enter a prompt and receive an output, you can click on Double Check Response to help validate the response. It uses Google search to verify and cite claims that it makes. These links can then be used to go deeper and do more exploring of a topic or concept. They can also be used to help you do the critical thinking task of deciding whether or not to believe what the AI has given you.

How Do I Use Double Check Response?

1. Go to Gemini.google.com and enter a prompt. 

2. When you get your output, scroll to the end and click the three vertical dots. 

3. Click Double Check Response

Count to 5, then take a look, the pieces that can be cited will show up in green. 

The items that are in green will also have an arrow that you can click to see the source. 

Why Should I Use This Or Show It To My Students?

We are trying to teach our students how to be critical thinkers in the world of AI. This tool can help open the conversation beyond just saying- Make sure it's valid. Ask your students to look at the sources, evaluate them. Also, have them look at the parts of the output that are not in green. Is there anything there that should be questioned or researched further? Using this tool, especialy in front of students is a wonderful way to model how we want our kids to interact with AI moving forward. 

Are you ready to use Double Check Response? How about teaching this tool to students? If you want some help, please reach out. I'm happy to assist you.