AI Content Authority: How to Avoid Misinformation in Chatbots

AI is becoming an essential tool for businesses, yet the importance of ensuring that content indexed by AI is authoritative and reliable has never been more critical. A recent case involving Air Canada’s AI chatbot, which gave false information to customers, highlights the risks when AI fails to grasp content nuances. This incident, which gained attention in February 2024, showcased the potentially damaging consequences of AI pulling incomplete or outdated data without the necessary context.

Indeed, the Air Canada case is just one of many examples of how AI’s limitations can lead to severe consequences—damaging customer trust, brand reputation, and even legal standing. Therefore, as AI continues to be implemented across industries, businesses must prioritize one key factor: AI content authority.

The Challenge of AI and Content Understanding

AI’s struggle to discern between up-to-date, relevant content and outdated or partial information is a significant challenge. In industries where the latest policies and regulations are crucial, AI can accidentally surface outdated or misleading responses—causing confusion or even operational issues.

For instance, during a recent Encodian project, a governing association overseeing tens of thousands of policy documents sought to implement AI chatbot functionality. The goal was to provide members with easy access to the latest industry policies. However, due to the risk of the AI pulling older or incomplete content, as was the case with Air Canada, the customer recognized that using AI without a strong AI content authority framework would be too risky.

Why Content Authority Labelling is a Game Changer

In order to address this growing concern, Encodian developed AskAI to be flexible and work alongside Encodian’s professional service capabilities. With broad expertise across data management, Encodian can help you go above and beyond AI capabilities and incorperate AI content authority labelling. For example labeling content ‘Gold, Silver, or Legacy’, based on its authority, relevance, and accuracy. The result? AI can distinguish between the most relevant and outdated content, ensuring users receive accurate, up-to-date responses every time.

But AskAI doesn’t stop there. It allows users to pull back the original document source, complete with disclaimers and the full context of any excerpted information. This level of transparency is critical, as it not only builds trust but also ensures that users are never misled—an essential safeguard in an age where AI-driven inaccuracies can have severe consequences.

What This Means for Your Business

The Air Canada case undoubtedly serves as a wake-up call for any business using AI. The risk of providing misleading or incomplete information due to poor AI content authority indexing can have far-reaching impacts. Whether you’re a governing body managing industry policies, a corporation dealing with legal guidelines, or even a customer service provider, ensuring your AI systems deliver authoritative, reliable, and fully contextual information is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity.

Encodian’s AskAI is designed to protect your business from the pitfalls of unreliable AI-generated responses. With content authority labelling and the ability to signpost users directly to the full, authoritative sources, you can enhance trust, prevent misinformation, and safeguard your brand’s integrity.