Glossary
AI hallucination — Glossary
A confident fabricated or unsupported statement produced by a generative model.
Also known as: hallucination
Full definition
Hallucinations arise because models optimize for plausible continuations, not guaranteed truth. They are especially dangerous when outputs look well-cited or highly specific.
Mitigations include retrieval with citations, calculators/tools, lower temperature for extractive tasks, and mandatory human verification for high-stakes claims.