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Catch the errors in a chatbot's holiday schedule summary

Practice: Catching mistakes and made-up facts. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You asked a chatbot to summarize the 2027 office holiday memo for the staff calendar, and you want to check it before posting. You want only the errors, as numbered lines in the form "Summary says X; memo says Y", under 60 words total, in plain text. Use only the memo, skip lines that match it, and don't rewrite the summary.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking for a better summary. The AI rewrites the whole thing, and you can't see what was wrong in the first one. Try: Say: "List only the errors. Don't rewrite."
  • Not naming the source of truth. The AI may judge by its own idea of when Christmas is, not by the memo's observed date. Try: Add: "The memo is the only source of truth."
  • Listing every holiday. The AI confirms each correct line too, so the real errors get buried. Try: Say: "Skip lines that match the memo."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands 10-20% over. Try: Cap each line: "each line under 15 words."
  • Getting markdown back. AI defaults to bold labels and headings, which show up as stray symbols in the staff calendar. Try: Ask for "plain text, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the source of truth
  • Asks for errors only
  • Gives the line format
  • Sets a length limit
  • Asks for plain text

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