It Found Me a Folder That Never Existed
I asked a bot where last week's report was saved. It answered with a full folder path, clear and confident. I walked over to check, and there was no such folder. It was less a lie than a blank filled in with something plausible.
Why This Happens
When asked a question, an AI leans toward producing an answer, because nobody ever gave it permission to leave a gap. So the fix is to write that permission down in plain words.
Three Steps You Can Follow
1. Open the bot's instruction file (CLAUDE.md).
2. Paste the block below at the very top.
3. Ask the same question again.
Verification rule
• Only state files, paths, and dates you have checked directly.
• If you could not check, begin with 「Not verified」.
• If it is a guess, put 「Guess:」 at the start of the sentence.
Two Weeks of Results
I added the same rule to two bots running on a Windows device. Invented paths and dates dropped from 6 a week to 1. Even that one came with the 「Guess:」 label at the front, so it did not fool me and I moved on.
Tips for Keeping It Small
• Stay at three lines or fewer. If the rule gets long, the bot skims it too.
• 「Say it this way」 works better than 「Don't do that」. Give the exact phrase to use when it does not know.
• When the bot replies 「Not verified」, don't scold it. Hand it the path. That answer becomes material for the next conversation.
What is scarier than a bot being wrong is a bot being wrong in a confident voice. A simple label for how sure it is lets a human catch the problem first.