AI gives you a draft, not a finished product. Before anything AI-made goes to a customer, a coworker, or into your records, a person needs to check it. This guide gives you a short routine that catches most problems in a couple of minutes.
The quick check
Read the draft once all the way through. Then go down this list.
- Facts. Is every statement true? Does it match what you actually know about the situation?
- Numbers. Are prices, totals, quantities and percentages right? Work them out yourself. Our guide to numbers, names and sources goes deeper.
- Names. Are people, companies and products spelled and titled correctly? Did the AI add a name you never gave it?
- Dates and times. Are deadlines, appointment times and days of the week correct? AI can pair a date with the wrong weekday.
- Links and contact details. Does every link go where it should? Is every phone number and email address the right one? AI can invent both.
- Promises. Does the draft promise anything you didn't intend, like a refund, a discount, a deadline or a guarantee?
- Tone. Does it sound like your business? Is it too stiff, too casual, or oddly cheerful for a sensitive moment?
- Placeholders. Did you replace every [placeholder] with the right real detail, in your own system?
The check gets faster with practice. A routine email might take under a minute. A client report takes longer, and it should.
When an expert must review
Some content needs more than a general read. Anything in these areas goes to a qualified person before it is used:
- Legal: contracts, lease terms, notices, employment matters, anything about rights or obligations
- Medical or dental: anything about symptoms, treatment, medications or patient care
- Financial and tax: tax advice, loan terms, anything a client might rely on for a money decision
- Safety: instructions where a mistake could hurt someone, such as electrical or chemical steps
AI can help you prepare a question for that person, or draft a plain-language version for them to review. It cannot replace their judgment.
Can this go into AI? A property manager wants to paste a blank late-rent notice template, with no tenant details, into the company's AI tool and ask it to make the wording friendlier.
Answer: Yes — a template with no tenant details is safe to share. But the rewritten notice goes to a qualified professional before it is used, because notice wording and deadlines depend on local law.
Can this go into AI? A medical office receptionist wants to paste a patient's message about medication side effects into AI to draft a reply.
Answer: No — the message is health information, and any answer about medication must come from a clinician. Pass it to the right person on the care team.
The "would I sign this?" test
After your check, ask one last question: Would I put my name on this?
If the draft went out with your signature or your business's logo, would you stand behind every sentence? Would you be comfortable if the customer called and asked, "Where did this come from?"
If the honest answer is "not quite," fix it or don't send it. The AI won't be the one answering the phone when something is wrong. You will.
Make it part of the job
The check only works if people actually do it. A few ways to make it stick:
- Keep the checklist next to the computers where AI drafts are made.
- Agree as a team that "the AI wrote it" is never an excuse for a mistake.
- For high-stakes documents, have a second person read it too.
Key points
- Every AI draft gets a human check before it is used: facts, numbers, names, dates, links, promises, tone and placeholders.
- Legal, medical, financial and safety content goes to a qualified person.
- Use the "would I sign this?" test before anything goes out.
- "The AI wrote it" is never an excuse for a mistake.
Quick check before you use AI output
Run this on every AI draft before it goes to a customer, a coworker or your records.
- Facts: every statement is true and matches what I know.
- Numbers: totals, prices and percentages recomputed by me.
- Names and dates: spelled right, matched to our records, weekdays correct.
- Links and contact details: all come from our own records, none invented.
- Promises: no refunds, discounts, deadlines or guarantees I didn't intend.
- Tone: sounds like our business and fits the moment.
- Expert review: legal, medical, financial or safety content sent to a qualified person.
- Final test: would I sign this?