← Back to Glossary
Hallucination
When an LLM confidently outputs plausible-sounding information that is factually false, ungrounded, or fabricated.
Why it exists
LLMs predict likely word sequences rather than querying a factual database. Obscure queries cause models to generate plausible-sounding false statements.
How it works
Mitigated by grounding outputs with RAG context, system prompt constraints, lower sampling temperature, and verification guardrails.