Verification checklist for AI generated references and citations

To verify an AI generated reference, find the original in a primary source, read the part being cited, and confirm it supports the claim. Do this for cases, papers, standards, links and software packages. If you cannot find the original, treat the reference as invented.

Why this needs a checklist

Invented references look right. The Mata v. Avianca sanctions in 2023 involved cases that did not exist, found through ChatGPT, with invented quotes and citations. The judge's reported reasoning was that using AI is not improper in itself, but the duty to verify stays with the person who files. A study published at USENIX Security 2025 found models inventing software package names across 576,000 samples.

Different fields, same failure: a confident reference to something that is not there.

The seven steps

1. Find it in a primary source. Use the court database, the journal site, the standards body or the package registry. Do not use another AI answer to confirm the first.
2. Match the details. Title, authors, date, identifier or version should all agree with what the tool gave.
3. Open the cited part. Read the passage or the function. Many errors are real sources used for a claim they do not support.
4. Check the quote. Copy a phrase from the tool's quote into a search or the document. Invented quotes will not match.
5. Check for lookalikes. For packages, check the exact spelling, publisher, release history and download pattern. See how to check an AI suggested package before installing.
6. Record what you checked. A line in the pull request or document: source, date, who checked.
7. Correct quickly. If something fails, remove or fix it and tell the people who relied on it. In the court case, delay was part of the finding of bad faith.

Quick triage by type

• Case law or regulation: official database, then read the holding or the clause.
• Research paper: the publisher page or the proceedings. Confirm the numbers you quote.
• Link: open it. A broken link is a signal, not proof.
• Package: registry page, publisher, history, source repository.
• Statistic: find the original table or report, not a summary of it.

Make it routine

Two habits keep the cost low. First, ask the tool to give you where to look, then do the looking yourself. Second, assign one named checker per document. Shared responsibility tends to mean none.

Teams that publish content should add a line to their review template: "All references verified in a primary source by [name]."

Safeguard's SBOM and dependency scanning covers the package case by listing what a project actually pulls in, and the free scan at gold.safeguard.sh/scan is a quick start.

Quick check

Sources

• LawNext: Court imposes sanctions on lawyers who filed bogus cases after relying on ChatGPT, June 2023
• USENIX Security 2025: We Have a Package for You, abstract page

Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.