Evaluation & Quality
False positive
A false alarm: the system says something is present when it is actually absent.
Example
A spam filter flags a legitimate customer message.
Why people use it
It names a false alarm so teams can judge unnecessary interruptions or rejections.
What you'll hear
“That message was safe, but it got flagged.”
What this means for you
Provide a way to review and correct important false alarms.
Can you control it?
No
No direct control. This describes a wider issue, concept or result rather than something you can simply switch on or off in a tool.
Common questions
- Does a positive label prove the condition is present?
- No. The label can be wrong, especially when the condition is uncommon.
- Why can rare problems produce many false alarms?
- There may be so many ordinary cases that even a small error rate creates many incorrect flags.
- Can too many false alarms create another problem?
- Yes. People may start ignoring alerts, including ones that describe a real issue.