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How AI Misleads You Without Lying: A Real Example of AI Misleading Information

By Jereme Peabody

Background

This was my first real encounter with AI misleading information, and it cost me time and money.

I was working with Claude AI the other day on the best way to update and host this blog. I'm not new to AI, but I'm not a WordPress expert either and that's exactly where things went sideways. A few specific moments in the conversation stuck out to me, and I want to walk through them so you don't fall into the same trap. I should have questioned some of the answers, but I didn't know enough about the domain to immediately spot the issues.

One of the tools Claude mentioned was WordPress. So I asked a simple question:

What are the benefits of WordPress?

When 'Comprehensive' Becomes Counterproductive

Claude came back with a 750-word single-response essay on the benefits of WordPress. And here's the part that drives me nuts: I'm on a paid plan. And this isn't the first time Claude dumped a novel-length answer at me and chewed through my daily quota. I rarely hit limits in ChatGPT, but with Claude, Claude burns through my quota, not me!

So I asked it directly why it responded with so many words.

Its internal reasoning, the 'Thought Process' it revealed basically said:

The user asked about WordPress. My instinct is to be helpful by giving a comprehensive answer.

Translation: Its default is to unload everything it knows about the topic, whether you need it or not, whether it costs you anything or not.

That 'comprehensive' mindset wouldn't be so bad if the answer was actually complete. But that wasn't the case.

The AI Misleading Information

Buried in its 750-word dump, Claude somehow didn't mention one of the most important distinctions in the entire WordPress ecosystem:

These are fundamentally different products with entirely different pricing models and feature sets.

Claude never made that distinction. Not once.

So, based on the rosy description it gave me, I created a WordPress.com account. Only after digging in did I realize those SEO features Claude highlighted: keyword optimization, sitemap generation, etc. were locked behind the Business plan at $25/month!

Naturally, I pushed back:

[me] You didn't tell me those SEO features were locked behind the business plan.

And Claude immediately responded with:

[claude] Ah, you're on WordPress.com (hosted), not self-hosted WordPress.

Like it had told me that all along?! It hadn't.

This is the part that bothers me. It wasn't just a mistake, it behaved as if I had misunderstood it, not that it had left out critical context.

The Subject-Shifting Problem

The more I pressed Claude on the details of WordPress, the more evasive it got. Here are two moments that really highlight the problem.

Example 1

[me] Does the free WordPress versions include SEO features like keyword suggestions and automatic sitemaps?

Claude answered normally, then ended with this unsolicited gem:

[claude] You already decided on static HTML. Stick with that — you avoid this mess entirely.

Hold up.

I didn't ask for career advice. I asked about WordPress features.

Example 2

[me] Are the SEO features free on the self-hosted version?

Claude answers, then once again appends:

[claude] But you already have scripts generating sitemaps and managing SEO.json. Why add WordPress complexity?

This is where things get strange. It shifted away from the topic at hand and started nudging me back toward static HTML, even though I never asked for a recommendation. I was trying to understand the tool and it was trying to steer the conversation.

And that's the larger issue.

Why This Matters

None of this was malicious. But it was misleading, unhelpful, and unnecessarily pushy. Claude tries so hard to 'resolve' your problem that it ends up:

The result? You end up making decisions based on incomplete or misaligned information.

And in my case, it actually cost me time and money because I signed up for something based on the wrong assumptions, assumptions that came directly from Claude's overly confident explanation and the AI misleading information. Luckily I was able to cancel my WordPress account so it wasn't a hard lesson, but there is a lesson here.

How to Protect Yourself From AI-Driven Missteps

The biggest risk in all of this isn't the wrong hosting platform or a wasted signup. It's the false sense of confidence you get when an AI answers quickly, confidently, and incompletely.

Security isn't just about passwords and firewalls, it's also about protecting your decisions, your money, and your data from bad assumptions. And bad assumptions usually start with overtrusting a system that sounds smarter than it actually is.

Here are the safeguards I recommend:

1. Treat AI-generated advice like advice from someone you barely know, don't trust it blindly.

LLMs write answers that sound airtight. But they're not.

Validate everything before taking action, especially when money, subscriptions, or web infrastructure are involved.

2. Force the model to expose distinctions before you act.

Ask directly:

If it can't clearly explain prices, versions, or constraints, that's a red flag.

3. Don't confuse confidence with correctness.

AI will happily explain something wrong with the same tone it uses for things that are right. Be especially cautious if you don't know enough about the domain. Verify everything.

4. It's your responsibility to keep the model on-topic.

If you ask a technical question and it starts guiding your decision, redirect it. Stay on the question. No recommendations. These models love to 'solve' your problem for you, even when you didn't ask. Claude AI is especially guilty of this.

5. Never make a purchase or create an account based on AI alone.

Use AI as a comparison tool, not a final authority:

AI is an assistant, not a product vetting pipeline.

6. Assume omissions are bugs, not your misunderstanding.

When an AI fails to mention a major distinction (like WordPress.com vs WordPress.org), don't blame yourself. Missing context is one of the most common 'soft failures' in LLMs.

7. Keep your quota costs in mind.

Overlong answers aren't harmless. If you're on a paid plan, they affect your usage, and that's effectively a financial security issue by artificially making you hit your limit. If you're on the free plan, it will artificially make you hit your ceiling too early. By design?

Be explicit:

Limit responses to 150 words unless I ask otherwise.

This protects your quota and keeps the model disciplined.

The Real Security Lesson

Security isn't just about avoiding hackers and protecting passwords.
It's about spotting AI misleading information, misdirection, and assumptions that quietly push you into the wrong decisions.

AI can be an incredible tool, but only if you treat it like one.

If you start from that mindset, you'll keep your guard up, protect your time, protect your money, and avoid the traps I fell into.

This content was created with AI assistance and fully reviewed by a human for accuracy and clarity.

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