What Are AI Hallucinations?

 

What are AI "Hallucinations"?  

AI hallucinations are incorrect or misleading results that AI models generate. This can be easily generated by any LLM (Large Language Model) generative content creator. These errors can be caused by a variety of factors, including insufficient training data, incorrect assumptions made by the model, or biases in the data used to train the model.


"In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a hallucination or artificial hallucination (also called bullshitting, confabulation or delusion) is a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact. This term draws a loose analogy with human psychology, where hallucination typically involves false perceptions. However, there is a key difference: AI hallucination is associated with erroneous responses or beliefs rather than perceptual experiences.[1]

Simply put, a hallucination refers to when an AI model “starts to make up stuff — stuff that is not in line with reality,” according to Jevin West, a professor at the University of Washington and co-founder of its Center for an Informed Public.

West continues to make this very important notation, "But it does it with pure confidence,” West added, “and it does it with the same confidence that it would if you asked a very simple question like, ‘What’s the capital of the United States?’” [2]

[1] Hallucination (artificial intelligence). (2024, August 12). In Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/29/tech/ai-chatbot-hallucinations/index.html