AI Patterns / AI Interaction Pattern 05
Verifiable Answers with Citations
Build user trust by providing fully sourced AI responses with clear, in-line citations that link directly back to the original source documents.
The User Problem This Pattern Solves
Generative AI can sometimes produce incorrect information or "hallucinate" facts. In a professional context, an unsourced answer is unreliable and potentially dangerous. Users need to be able to trust the information they receive, especially when making critical business, clinical, or financial decisions. They must be able to ask the AI, "How do you know that?" and get a clear answer.
The Design Solution & UI Mockup
The solution is to design a "glass box" AI that shows its work. Every factual claim in an AI-generated response is appended with a subtle, in-line citation marker. These markers are interactive and link to a dedicated "Sources" panel. This panel lists the original documents—be it a report, an email, or a presentation—from which the information was extracted, allowing the user to instantly verify the AI's claims and drill down into the source material for deeper context.
Summary of Project Nexus Q3 Status:
The total allocated marketing budget for Project Nexus in Q3 is $250,000, with a primary focus on digital channels and partner co-marketing initiatives. This budget was approved by executive leadership on July 15th. The engineering team has successfully completed all sprint goals for the alpha release, which is now scheduled for October 5th.
Sources
SharePoint > Marketing > Q3_Proposals
Outlook > Inbox > From: C. Miller
Confluence > Engineering > Sprints
Key Benefits & Impact
Builds User Trust
Transforms the AI from a mysterious "black box" into a transparent and trustworthy assistant.
Ensures Accountability
Allows for clear auditing and fact-checking, which is critical in regulated industries.
Improves Answer Quality
The act of sourcing forces the AI model to ground its responses in factual data, reducing hallucinations.
Design Considerations
The interaction between the citation and the source panel must be seamless. A click or hover on a citation icon should highlight the corresponding source document for immediate context. For long documents, the system should ideally link to the specific page or paragraph where the information was found. The presentation of sources must be clean, scannable, and clearly show the origin path to be effective.
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