5. Know What You Are Holding

Confident with AI course contents

Part Two: Judge What AI Gives You

Recognise a useful AI response without mistaking polish or confidence for proof.

Estimated time: 10 minutes. Last reviewed: 11 August 2026.

What you need to know

This page stands alone. No previous AI knowledge is required. You need access to an AI assistant only for the activity.

Learning outcome: By the end, you will separate observations, interpretations, estimates and unsupported claims.

The lesson

AI produces language with the shape of an answer. Clear, fluent wording does not prove that the claim is true.

An estimate can still provide valuable access to a subject.

Your purpose, context and judgement remain essential.

Listen to the kind of claim

A description may mix literal details with interpretation. “A red cover with white lettering” is presented as observation. “A luxurious and romantic design” is judgement. Both may be useful, but they are not the same evidence.

• Visible: the image itself may establish it.
• Contextual: it comes from a caption, filename or surrounding page.
• Inferred: it is an interpretation, not directly visible.
• Uncertain: the system cannot establish it confidently.

Confidence belongs to the wording

A calm, definite sentence can still be wrong. Treat confidence as a feature of the answer’s style, not proof of its evidence.

Try it

Choose one confident AI answer, preferably an image description. Label its important statements as visible, contextual, inferred or uncertain.

Checkpoint

You can explain why the answer is useful while identifying which statements are not established facts.

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About this course

Confident with AI was created by Charli-Jo Tyrer in association with the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP).

Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.