See How Confident Niyam Is in Every Citation

What changed

Every citation in a research answer now carries a confidence indicator reflecting how directly the cited authority supports the specific proposition it is attached to. A strong signal means the judgment or statutory provision closely and squarely supports the point. A lower signal means the authority is relevant but more peripheral — the proposition may be broader than the single source behind it, or the case addresses the issue at an angle rather than head-on.

The indicator appears inline, next to each citation marker in the answer, so you can read through the answer and form a sense of which authorities are solid before opening any of them. It is visible in all research answers, including answers within multi-turn sessions.

How to use it

1. Run a question in the Research workspace to receive an answer with citations.
2. As you read through the answer, look at the confidence indicator next to each citation marker.
3. Treat a high-confidence citation as squarely on point. Still open and verify the source if the proposition is load-bearing for your argument, but proceed knowing the authority directly supports what is claimed.
4. Treat a lower-confidence citation as a prompt to verify before relying on it. Click through to the judgment, read the cited passage, and confirm it supports the proposition in the context you intend to use it.
5. If a citation does not hold up on your read, refine the research question to be more specific and run it again to obtain more targeted authorities.

Why it matters

Not all citations in a long research answer carry the same weight, but until now there was no easy way to tell which ones warranted the most scrutiny without opening each one individually. The confidence indicator gives you a priority order for your verification pass.

This matters most when an answer draws on several authorities to support multiple distinct propositions. A written submission might rest on five or six legal points, each backed by different case law. Treating all eight or ten citations as equally certain means either verifying all of them thoroughly — which is slow — or verifying none — which is risky. The confidence signal gives you a rational middle path: focus careful reading on the lower-confidence citations first, and move faster through the ones that are clearly on point.

The indicator does not replace reading the source. Every citation at any confidence level should be verified before it goes into a filing or advice note. The signal shapes where you spend your verification time, and that is what makes it practically useful when you are working under time pressure.

Good to know

• Confidence is computed per citation against the specific proposition it supports. The same judgment can carry different confidence levels in two different answers, depending on how central it is to each point being made.
• The indicator appears in follow-up answers within multi-turn sessions, including answers to refined or narrowed questions.
• Every citation at any confidence level opens to a real judgment or statute in the Niyam corpus. The indicator shapes your verification approach; it does not filter or exclude any authority.
• The underlying research, retrieval, and answer generation are unchanged. Citation confidence is an additive transparency layer over the same cited answers you were already receiving.
• Pairing the confidence signal with accurate citation anchoring — also live — means you can click any citation and arrive at the relevant passage immediately, making each verification step faster regardless of confidence level.