meaning of ai hallucination

A phenomenon where artificial intelligence (AI) systems, particularly large language models (LLMs), generate responses that contain false, inaccurate, or misleading information, presenting it as factual without any actual awareness or belief in the falsehood.

The AI chatbot produced an AI hallucination when it confidently stated a fabricated historical event.

Mitigating AI hallucination is a major challenge for developers working on advanced language models.

Synonyms: AI confabulation, AI fabrication, AI misinformation

Etymology: The term 'hallucination' is used metaphorically for AI, drawing a loose analogy with human psychological hallucinations (false percepts). However, for AI, it refers to erroneously constructed responses or confabulation rather than conscious perceptual experiences, as AI systems lack consciousness or genuine perception.

Cultural Notes: The use of 'hallucination' for AI is a metaphor, not to be confused with its clinical meaning in human psychology. It highlights the AI's tendency to generate plausible-sounding but factually incorrect outputs, which can be problematic for reliability and trust in AI systems. The term gained prominence with the rise of generative AI and large language models.

Word Frequency: common

Category: ai

Language: English

Pronunciation: /ˌeɪˌaɪ həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/