Copies of Copies: Why AI Answers Drift, and Why Facts Need a Source Attached

Google’s AI Mode said a UK travel permit is embedded in your passport chip. That is false, and it is built from two true sentences on GOV.UK. Here is how a fact changes each time it is copied, why the copies now get the credit, and what it takes for a fact to carry its source.

November 4, 2026 · 8 min · Eugene Oleinik