Written 14 October 2026.
If an AI answer gives a “current” figure with no month, quarter or year, ask when it’s from and check the official source. Then check the figures around it too.
What I measured
On 10 October 2026 I asked ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Claude and Gemini ten UK figure questions with “now” or “today” in them. ChatGPT and Claude gave a period with all ten of their figures. Google AI Mode left it out four times and Gemini three times.
None of the headline figures was older than the latest official release that day. The two wrong numbers I found were side figures: Gemini gave the youth unemployment rate as 14.4% (the ONS figure was 16.4%), and AI Mode quoted the 2025/26 National Living Wage. Study and CSV.
What to paste
When is that figure from? Give the month or period and the official source.Then open the official source yourself. In this run that meant ONS, the Bank of England, SMMT, GOV.UK and Ofgem.
What I will not claim
- That the follow-up question fixes the answer. I didn’t test it.
- That engines get headline figures right in general. This was one day, 40 answers and UK figures only.
- Anything about Perplexity. It wasn’t run because it asked me to sign up.
This is hack 6 on the search hacks page.