Judgment in the Age of AI · Article 7
An AI answer often joins three different kinds of sentence: verifiable facts, inferences drawn from facts and value-laden opinions. A consistent tone makes them appear equally certain. The first task is not to declare the whole passage right or wrong, but to classify its claims.
| Type | Example | Appropriate response |
|---|---|---|
| Fact | “The policy commenced on this date.” | Check the official document, date and scope. |
| Inference | “This may increase costs for small businesses.” | Inspect the reasoning, assumptions and counterexamples. |
| Opinion | “This is a fairer system.” | Ask which standard of fairness and whose interests are involved. |
Do not mistake connective words for evidence
Words such as “therefore”, “clearly” and “this shows” can move rapidly from fact to conclusion without proving the middle. Separate the sentences: Is the first true, and even if it is, does it lead only to this conclusion?
The three-colour method
- Blue for facts requiring external sources
- Yellow for inferences requiring assumption checks
- Green for opinions requiring an explicit value standard
You can ask AI to label each sentence, but the reader must still review the classification. Judgement does not reject opinion; it knows what kind of claim it is accepting.
References
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