AI wants to please you. Tell it NOT STATED is an answer.
When asking AI to extract data from SDS documents, you need to explicitly tell it that NOT STATED is an acceptable answer. Without that instruction, Claude will fill gaps with plausible guesses. A single sentence directing it not to infer prevents false data from contaminating your results.
As seen on LinkedIn Read the original post and the comments (opens LinkedIn in a new tab)Ask Claude for the flash point on 40 supplier SDS files and you will usually get 40 answers.
Some of those documents may not have one. When the page doesn’t have a value, Claude can fill the gap with a plausible value, because you didn’t give it permission to say NOT STATED.
Here’s how to fix it. Add one sentence: “If the document does not state it, write NOT STATED. Do not infer.”
Now blanks show up as blanks, and you can confidently rely on the data.
It cuts wrong answers. It does not remove them, so check 5 or 6 rows against the source before you use the sheet.