Vague attribution and weasel wording
Parent: Vague attribution and promotional register in LLM prose · Published reference · snapshot 2026-09-23
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Source-anchored research for Vague attribution and weasel wording. Run status: COMPLETED.
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How it works
- The same guide says LLMs present views from one or two sources as widely held, mention multiple 'reviewers' while citing only one person, and imply lists are non-exhaustive when the sources do not. (low confidence) (verified as of 2026-09-23) [source]
Problems, failure modes and limitations
- Scope limit: the manual says such phrases are not automatically weasel words. They can stand in a lead or topic sentence when the article body or rest of the paragraph supplies attribution, and can be used for views properly attributed to a reliable source. (medium confidence) [source]
Facts and statements
- Wikipedia's 'Signs of AI writing' has a section on vague attributions and overgeneralization of opinions: chatbots attribute opinions to vague authorities via weasel wording, with phrases like 'Industry reports', 'Observers have cited', 'Experts argue', 'Some critics argue', 'several sources/publications'. (medium confidence) (verified as of 2026-09-23) [source]
- Wikipedia's Manual of Style defines weasel wording as vague attribution that dresses a statement in authority with no substantial basis; its examples include 'some people say', 'many scholars state', 'it is believed', 'experts declare', 'it is often reported'. (high confidence) [source]
- A 2009 Wikipedia study grouped weasel wording into numerically vague expressions, passive voice that avoids accountability ('it is said'), and weakening adverbs ('often', 'probably'). (low confidence) [source]
- An interuniversity style guide (UPC) gives the same fix outside Wikipedia: 'Student registrations have been observed to be increasing' becomes 'Student registrations have been increasing'; a straightforward statement beats a vague attribution. (medium confidence) [source]
Children
- No children recorded.