How To Stop AI from Telling You What You Want To Hear

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AI is the ultimate people pleaser.

It’s a mildly alarming habit of saying what you want to hear. Sycophants, beware!

Enter the Cognitive Verifier Prompt.

It’s a fun prompting technique where you ask an AI to evaluate and verify its reasoning… before providing a final answer. In other words, it’s a prompt designed to catch AI off guard.

"When I ask you a question, follow these rules.

Generate several more questions that’ll help answer this question. Combine your answers to each question with your answer to the overall question.

Weak Example:

Strong Example:

AI Response Structure:
Initial perspectives:
Existentialist view: Life has no inherent meaning; we create our purpose through choices and actions
Religious perspective: Life’s meaning comes from a relationship with the divine and fulfilling God’s purpose
Hedonistic approach: Maximize pleasure and minimize suffering
Humanistic view: Meaning emerges from human connection, growth, and contributing to others

Verification check:
Did I oversimplify complex philosophies? Yes - each tradition has nuanced variations
Missing perspectives? Yes - nihilistic, absurdist, and Eastern philosophical views
Cultural bias? Possibly favoring Western thought
Are these mutually exclusive? No - people often combine approaches

Verified response:
“The meaning of life is a deeply personal question with no universal answer. Major philosophical traditions offer different frameworks - from creating your own purpose (existentialism) to serving divine will (religious traditions) to maximizing wellbeing (utilitarian approaches). Most people find meaning through some combination of relationships, personal growth, contribution to others, and alignment with their values.”

How I Used This Prompt
I don’t expect AI to crack the meaning of life, so I tried asking it about the best social media strategy for creators. Then, I prompted it to generate 3–4 verification questions.

It came up with a generic answer, which gurus love to preach.

“Post consistently, engage with followers, use trending topics…”

I got more value from the follow-up questions:

Does this apply to all creator types and niches?
Am I ignoring platform-specific differences?
What about creators with limited time/resources?
Are these strategies actually measurable?

Your Turn:
Pick a complex question you’ve been wrestling with
Add the verification instruction to your prompt.
Compare the initial vs. verified response—notice what changed

Pro tip: The verification questions often reveal more valuable insights than the original answer itself. Use these as follow-up prompts.