Verified against Perplexity Pro · 2026-07-05
Force independent corroboration before you trust a claim, not citation-cluster agreement
A verification prompt that requires a minimum number of genuinely independent sources for a claim, explicitly ruling out citations that all trace back to the same original report.
The prompt
Ready to copy — highlighted parts are example details you can swap.
Check the following claim against independent sources. Do not treat this as answered until you find at least 3 sources that are independent of each other — meaning none of them is simply reporting on, quoting, or citing one of the others as its evidence. CLAIM TO CHECK A recent survey found that 40% of enterprise buyers now require an AI usage policy from vendors before signing a contract. RULES FOR WHAT COUNTS AS INDEPENDENT - A news article that cites a press release, and the press release itself, are the same source, not two. - Two outlets that both cite the same single study or the same wire report are the same source, not two. - Wikipedia, the vendor's own press release, single-author blog posts may be cited for context but does not count toward the independent-source minimum on its own. OUTPUT 1. For each independent source found: what it actually says, in its own words or data — not a paraphrase that smooths over a difference between sources. 2. A one-line note on whether the sources agree, partially agree, or conflict. If they conflict, say what the disagreement is actually about — methodology, timeframe, definition — not just "sources disagree." 3. If you cannot find 3 truly independent sources, say so plainly instead of padding the list with derivative coverage to hit the number.
Customize the highlighted detailsoptional — the prompt above already works
Why this works
Search-grounded answer engines have a documented failure mode of citation clustering — returning several citations that look like independent corroboration but are actually all downstream of one wire story or one press release repeating the same original claim. Explicitly defining what counts as independent, rather than just asking for "multiple sources," closes the exact loophole a citation count alone leaves open: a naive count treats five outlets quoting the same PR blast as five sources instead of one. Setting a numeric minimum forces the retrieval step to keep searching past the first agreeing cluster it finds, since stopping early would visibly fail the stated bar, and requiring the model to admit when it cannot reach that minimum prevents the alternative failure mode — padding a thin result with derivative coverage just to appear to have satisfied the requirement.
What you get back
Source 1 (survey publisher, primary data): reports 41% of 500 surveyed enterprise buyers. Source 2 (independent industry outlet, own reporting): cites the same underlying survey but adds context from three named buyers confirming the policy requirement independently. Source 3: could not be verified as independent — it cites Source 1's press release only. Verdict: only 2 independent sources found, not the 3 requested. The 40% figure traces to one survey; corroboration beyond that survey is currently thin.
Verified against
Perplexity Pro Sonar Pro · 2026-07-05
Changelog
- 2026-07-05 — Initial publish, verified against Perplexity Pro Sonar Pro search.
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