ThinkCritical.eu · Manipulation atlas
Sources and evidenceFabricated source
A quote, study, statute or ruling that looks credible but doesn't exist. Typical of AI hallucinations.
A fabricated source has everything a real citation should have – author, year, journal, section number or case number. It is often produced by an AI chatbot that knows what a citation looks like, but not whether it exists.
A chatbot writes in a school essay: “As shown by Miller et al. (2020) in the Bulletin of Sleep and School Performance, pupils who sleep less than seven hours get lower marks.” The study, the authors and the journal do not exist.
How to spot it
- The citation looks perfect, but you can't find it anywhere.
- An AI answer cites specific laws, court rulings or studies without a link.
- The link goes nowhere, or to something completely different.
- The name of the journal or institution sounds credible, but search engines have never heard of it.
How to check and what to do
- Search for the study title and the journal in Google Scholar or a library catalogue.
- Look up the section in the current official text of the law, and the ruling in an official case-law database.
- If the study has a DOI, enter it at doi.org – it must take you to the same article.
- Don't use a source you can't trace – even if the AI repeats it.
Tip: If you ask a chatbot “Is that source real?”, it may well answer “yes”. Check outside the chat.
Full explanation and exercises:
thinkcritical.eu/en/manipulation-atlas/fabricated-source