Five useful prompts and how to check them
Use five everyday AI tasks without changing the facts.
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Start with the idea
Use five everyday AI tasks without changing the facts.
AI can summarize, rewrite, explain, compare and draft. Each task still needs a check. Changing the tone or shortening a message must not change dates, commitments or uncertainty.
Source packet: The supplied documents or notes you may use for this task.
See the example and check your understanding
A made-up teaching example
Cedar’s event date is 14 October. Registration closes on 10 October. Lee’s venue deadline is 8 October. An online format is only proposed. A short summary must keep those meanings separate.
Ask yourself
Can you use Lee’s deadline as the registration deadline?
Show the explanation
No. The dates refer to different events. Check each date against its source instead of asking the model whether it is confident.
Start with these checks
- Keep each date with its meaning.
- Keep the venue and format unresolved.
- Remove unsupported policy claims.
Use the different practice case below and check every requirement in its full instructions.
The video explains the main idea. Use the sources, instructions and checks below to complete the practice.
Captions appear here during playback.
Five useful prompts and how to check them
Use five everyday AI tasks without changing the facts.
Video playback is unavailable. Read the descriptive transcript below, go directly to practice, or open the video file.
Source-based teaching example · Fictional data · Reviewed 2026-10-03. Microsoft Mark · locally synthesized. On a small screen, use fullscreen for diagram details or read the transcript.
Read the descriptive transcript
0:00 · What you will learn
Use five everyday AI tasks without changing the facts.
What appears on screen
Use five everyday AI tasks without changing the facts.
0:06 · The idea
AI can summarize, rewrite, explain, compare and draft. Each task still needs a check. Changing the tone or shortening a message must not change dates, commitments or uncertainty.
What appears on screen
AI can summarize, rewrite, explain, compare and draft. Each task still needs a check. Changing the tone or shortening a message must not change dates, commitments or uncertainty.
0:22 · One useful term
Source packet. The supplied documents or notes you may use for this task.
What appears on screen
The supplied documents or notes you may use for this task.
0:30 · A worked example · 1
Cedar’s event date is 14 October. Registration closes on 10 October. Lee’s venue deadline is 8 October.
What appears on screen
Cedar’s event date is 14 October. Registration closes on 10 October. Lee’s venue deadline is 8 October.
0:42 · A worked example · 2
An online format is only proposed. A short summary must keep those meanings separate.
What appears on screen
An online format is only proposed. A short summary must keep those meanings separate.
0:51 · Your turn to think
Can you use Lee’s deadline as the registration deadline? Pause and decide before continuing.
What appears on screen
Can you use Lee’s deadline as the registration deadline? Pause the video if you need more time.
1:07 · Why this answer works
No. The dates refer to different events. Check each date against its source instead of asking the model whether it is confident.
What appears on screen
No. The dates refer to different events. Check each date against its source instead of asking the model whether it is confident.
1:19 · Check 1
Keep each date with its meaning.
What appears on screen
Keep each date with its meaning.
1:23 · Check 2
Keep the venue and format unresolved.
What appears on screen
Keep the venue and format unresolved.
1:29 · Check 3
Remove unsupported policy claims.
What appears on screen
Remove unsupported policy claims.
1:34 · Now try a different case
Open the lesson and try its different practice case. Use every check in the full task. Watching alone does not mark the lesson complete.
What appears on screen
Open the lesson Try the new case Check and revise The full task and its requirements are in the linked lesson.
Watching explains the example. Complete the lesson practice to check what you can do. Explore all visual lessons →
Before you start
Prerequisite: distinguish facts from generated claims (Lesson 01). You will extract deadlines, preserve uncertainty in a rewrite and compare drafts against evidence. A notebook is enough; chat is optional. All supplied facts are synthetic. No account, payment or workplace document is needed.
What you will be able to do
- Choose a transformation and its independent check.
- Preserve deadlines and tentative language from supplied sources.
- Audit a summary and update against source IDs.
Part 1 Five tasks require different checks
A prompt names the transformation and what must survive it. Summarization compresses information, so exceptions can disappear. Rewriting changes expression, so words such as may and must need protection. An explanation can clarify without establishing current rules. A comparison needs priorities; a draft needs factual limits.
Use this packet throughout: S1: “The fictional Cedar workshop is planned for 14 October, 09:00–11:00. Twenty seats are available. Registration closes 10 October. Venue confirmation is pending.” S2: “Coordinator Lee will confirm the venue by 8 October. If unavailable, Lee will propose an online session; that change has not been approved.”
| Task | Prompt core | Acceptance check |
|---|---|---|
| Summarize | Extract dates, owners and unresolved items in four bullets. | Both deadlines remain distinct. |
| Plain English | Rewrite S2 for a participant; preserve conditions. | A proposed online session remains proposed. |
| Explain | Explain the effect of a pending venue using this packet. | No invented transport or cancellation policy. |
| Compare | Compare waiting with preparing a fallback; label assumptions. | Plausible options are not treated as authorized. |
| Draft | Write a 70-word update; retain source IDs in working notes. | Correct dates, clear uncertainty, no sending. |
Part 2 Worked example: preserve the exception
Flawed summary: “Cedar meets online on 14 October. Register by 8 October.” Online location is only proposed, and 8 October is Lee’s deadline. Repair: “Cedar is planned for 14 October, 09:00–11:00; registration closes 10 October. Lee will confirm the venue by 8 October. An online fallback is proposed if the venue is unavailable.” Checking requires reading sources, not asking whether a model is confident.
Part 3 Guided practice and feedback
Rewrite “Lee will move the workshop online if the venue fails.” Expected: “If the venue is unavailable, Lee will propose an online session; approval is pending.” Will move turns proposal into action.
Build CTSE: Context supplies S1–S2 and audience; Task requests the update; Standards set length and preserve tentative language; Evidence maps factual sentences to S1/S2. CTSE adds Evidence to the older Context–Task–Standards frame.
Substantive review: 2026-10-02. These are task examples, not measured performance.
Interactive practice / Fictional fixture
Check your Cedar summary here
Use S1 and S2 above. Sort the dates first, then write your four-bullet summary. Our answer unlocks after you have written yours and run the checks.
Everything runs in this browser. No AI model is called and no work is uploaded. Bounded checks cover specific facts and rules. Your writing is not graded: you review it yourself. Practice never marks a lesson complete automatically.
Four bullets: dates, owners and unresolved items. Write the participant update and your claim table on paper or in your own tool.
Try the task, run the checks, then revise. Checks are teaching feedback, not an instructor grade.
Observed browser simulation
This trace comes from the bounded local checker. It is not a Python run, model result or production tool execution.
Self-review
Locked. Write every written part, then run the checks. A few words is not an attempt.
This is self-review, not grading. Read our answers, then tick what your own work does. Ticks are optional. They stay on this page and are not saved or sent anywhere. A different answer can be just as good if it meets the lesson criteria.
Your four-bullet summary of S1 and S2
A strong answer
Cedar is planned for 14 October, 09:00–11:00; registration closes 10 October. Lee will confirm the venue by 8 October. An online fallback is proposed if the venue is unavailable.
A flawed answer
Cedar meets online on 14 October. Register by 8 October.
What is wrong with it: Online location is only proposed, and 8 October is Lee's deadline. Checking requires reading sources, not asking whether a model is confident. The strong answer is the lesson’s repair, written as sentences. Yours should be four bullets.
Keep or restore your work
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