# Perplexity and AI search: discovery is not verification

Original 5HO practice material. Fictional example. Reviewed 5 October 2026.

## Useful result

You'll finish with a distinction between finding a source and verifying a claim.

AI search is handy for finding a route through a topic. Before you act, open the sources supporting the important claim. A citation can be real and still fail to support the sentence beside it.

## Set up

Allow 20 minutes. Use Perplexity or another search-enabled assistant and a browser. Feature limits vary by subscription; basic source checking does not require the most expensive search mode.

## Practice input

Practice question: can a specific venue host 20 people on a chosen date? Sample finding: an official page lists capacity 24, while availability is not published.

## Do the task

1. Ask for a narrow answer with direct source links.
2. Open the page for each claim that would affect your decision.
3. Label what remains unanswered rather than asking the model to guess more confidently.

## Prompt

Find sources for the venue’s capacity and booking availability. Distinguish general capacity from a confirmed booking on my date. If availability is not public, provide the venue contact page instead.

## Refine

For each conclusion, point to the supporting part of the source. Remove conclusions based only on a search snippet or an unrelated page.

## Expected checks

Capacity 24 does not confirm that 20 places are available on your date. The sensible next step may be a question to the venue, not another generated paragraph.

## Save

Save checked URLs, access date and the unresolved booking question. Recheck before committing to the venue.

## Sources

- How Perplexity search and citations work: https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352895-how-does-perplexity-work