Questions to ask any AI tool
Every AI tool works a little differently, and the details change every few months. Four questions tell you what you need to know about the one in front of you.
1. Can it search the web?
Many chatbots can now look things up while they answer, and many decide for themselves when to. But not every tool can, and one that can won't search for every question. When it doesn't, it is answering from what it learned in training, and that memory is patterns, not a library.
Not every answer shows where it came from, either. If you can't see any sources, ask: "Did you search for this? Which sources did you use?" A tool that searched can give you links to follow. One that didn't should say so.
A link is not a check
Even a tool that searches can misread what it finds, or link a page that doesn't say what the answer claims. A link tells you where to check. It doesn't mean anyone has checked.
2. Does it remember you?
Many chatbots can now remember things between chats: your name, your school, what you're studying, things you mentioned weeks ago. That can make answers more useful. It also means something you typed once can shape answers much later, and it is stored somewhere.
Look for a memory setting. You can usually see what has been remembered, delete it, or turn memory off.
3. Who sees your chats?
Your chats are kept on the company's computers, not just on your device. Some companies use chats to help train their future AI unless you switch that off. So the simplest rule is the safest one: don't type anything into a chatbot that you wouldn't be happy for a stranger to read.
4. When did its training stop?
A chatbot learned from text collected up to a certain date. Anything after that, it simply hasn't seen, unless it can search. That matters for news, sports results, prices and anything else that changes. If you ask about something recent and it answers confidently without searching, be suspicious.
An example: ChatGPT, as of September 2026
Memory lives in Settings: it can keep "saved memories" and can also use your past chats, and you can turn either off. Whether your chats help train future models is a switch called "Improve the model for everyone", under Data Controls. Other tools have similar settings with different names, and these may have moved by the time you read this. That is exactly why the questions matter more than the answers.
Answer the four questions for your tool
Pick the AI tool you use most. Find the answer to each question in its settings or help pages, and write the four answers down. If you can't find one, that is an answer too: it means you don't know what happens to what you type.
Next
You know how it answers and what it keeps. Next: the four ways it gets things wrong.
Last reviewed: 25 September 2026