7 real cases where ChatGPT and Claude got datasheet values wrong (and how to check them)

Description and use

<p><em>Disclosure: I build PartsPlan, the tool mentioned at the end. The cases below are real answers I checked against the manufacturer's pages.</em></p> <p>If you ask a chat AI for a component value, you get a confident number, and a wrong value looks exactly like a right one. Between Oct 29 and 31, 2026 I asked ChatGPT and Claude web chat (PDF attached or web search on) questions where I expected trouble, then checked every answer against the datasheet page. Here are seven misses, and the habit that would have caught each one.</p> <h2> 1. BSS138 — the wrong temperature curve (about 4x off)

Problem

<p><em>Disclosure: I build PartsPlan, the tool mentioned at the end. The cases below are real answers I checked against the manufacturer's pages.</em></p> <p>If you ask a chat AI for a component value, you get a confident number, and a wrong value looks exactly like a right one. Between Oct 29 and 31, 2026 I asked ChatGPT and Claude web chat (PDF attached or web search on) questions where I expected trouble, then checked every answer against the datasheet page. Here are seven misses, and the habit that would have caught each one.</p> <h2> 1. BSS138 — the wrong temperature curve (about 4x off)

Outcome

<p><em>Disclosure: I build PartsPlan, the tool mentioned at the end. The cases below are real answers I checked against the manufacturer's pages.</em></p> <p>If you ask a chat AI for a component value, you get a confident number, and a wrong value looks exactly like a right one. Between Oct 29 and 31, 2026 I asked ChatGPT and Claude web chat (PDF attached or web search on) questions where I expected trouble, then checked every answer against the datasheet page. Here are seven misses, and the habit that would have caught each one.</p> <h2> 1. BSS138 — the wrong temperature curve (about 4x off)

Evidence

7 real cases where ChatGPT and Claude got datasheet values wrong (and how to check them)

Source