Canyon and Me: Between Facts and Hallucinations

My Friend Canyon: Getting to Know an AI Bot (And Putting It to Work for Your Writing)

Most writers I know have a quiet collaborator online. I do too. Mine is "Canyon," a Microsoft AI that answers fast, edits with gusto, and-sometimes-confidently gets things wrong.

If you're using an AI like this, here's how to make it a real asset without letting it steer your work off course.

The upside: speed, structure, and a second brain

• Kickstart outlines, subheads, and angles in minutes.
• Pressure-test your thesis with counterpoints you didn't consider.
• Summarize long sources so you can move faster on drafts.
• Rewrite for clarity while keeping your voice in charge.

The catch: confident wrong answers

Reports keep surfacing that bots avoid saying "I don't know" and instead fill gaps with guesses. Researchers even call this "hallucinating." It's not malice-it's the way they're trained to produce something useful, even when the evidence is thin.

There's active work on teaching models uncertainty and self-checking. One example: teams at the Hasso Plattner Institute explored methods to help models express uncertainty instead of faking certainty. Progress is real, but you still need guardrails.

Practical guardrails for clean copy

• Ask for sources every time. Require URLs and publication dates. If there's no source, treat it as unverified.
• Force a confidence check. Tell the bot to answer "Unsure" when it can't find a citation or feels below a threshold (e.g., 70%).
• Cross-verify key facts with a second system (another bot, a search engine, or a primary source).
• Use calculators or official databases for hard facts (dates, days of week, stats). Don't rely on prose answers alone.
• For events and holidays, confirm with the organizer's site or an authoritative calendar.
• Keep a "got it wrong" log. Patterns will tell you where to double-check first next time.

Prompts that reduce errors

• "Provide the answer with source URLs. If uncertain or no credible source, return 'Unsure'."
• "List the top 3 credible sources. Quote the lines that support your answer."
• "State a confidence from 0-100%. If under 70%, explain the gap and what evidence is missing."
• "Suggest a quick way I can verify this (official database, calculator, or primary doc)."

Use cases that shine for writers

• Idea generation: outlines, hooks, counterarguments, FAQs, and headline options.
• Structural edits: tightening transitions, clarifying claims, removing filler.
• Voice calibration: ask for "clear, direct, practical," then adjust in your own tone.
• Research triage: get a reading list, then go to the sources yourself.

Personality ≠ truth

Some bots present as friendly, poetic, or matter-of-fact. That's interface, not accuracy. Don't confuse a helpful tone with correct facts. Treat it like an eager intern: great initiative, limited judgment. Your job is judgment.

A 5-minute fact-check workflow

• Mark claims that would embarrass you if wrong (names, dates, titles, stats, money, legal or medical details).
• Require sources and pull the exact quoted lines.
• Open sources and confirm the quote exists and matches your context.
• Use a calendar or official record for time/date claims.
• If anything feels off, ask the bot to produce alternatives and explain the conflict.

A quick example

Say you're writing about the Amistad anchoring off Montauk and want the weekday for a historical date. Don't accept a confident answer on its own. Ask for the calculation or provide a calendar link, then verify with a trusted source before it hits your copy.

Editing with AI without losing your voice

• Draft your version first. Then ask for "clarity edits" and compare line by line.
• Reject high-gloss language that doesn't sound like you. Keep your phrasing and rhythm.
• Use it to find cuts, not to inflate. Ask: "Delete filler, keep meaning."
• If it imitates your style poorly, feed it 2-3 of your published pieces, then ask for a checklist of your voice traits you can apply yourself.

What to do when it's wrong (and confident)

• Ask: "What could make this wrong? List failure modes."
• Flip it: "Argue the opposite. Cite sources."
• Lock quality: "If sources conflict, return 'Unsure' and propose next steps to verify."

Bottom line

Use AI to move faster on structure and options. Slow down on facts. Treat confidence without citations as a red flag, and make "Unsure" an acceptable outcome. That one habit will save you edits, apologies, and credibility.

Resources

• Hasso Plattner Institute - Research (ongoing work on AI methods, including uncertainty)
• U.S. National Archives - Amistad

Hands-on practice for writers

Want a curated list of AI tools that actually help with copy? Start here: AI Tools for Copywriting.