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Hallucination

Fundamentals

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2/5 · Getting there

When an AI confidently gives an answer that is simply made up.

Lesson #2: Working With AI: Prompts, Data & Guardrails
Think of it like…

A confident coworker who'd rather guess than admit they don't know.

Everyday example

An AI inventing a book title that was never written.

Construction example

An AI citing a building code section number that doesn't exist.

Business example

An AI quoting a refund policy your company never had.

Why this matters

AI can be wrong while sounding certain — always verify facts that carry money or legal risk.

One-sentence summary

A hallucination is a confident AI answer that isn't true.

Try it yourself

Ask an AI a very specific factual question about your industry, then check the answer against a real source.

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