Generative AI & LLMs
Grounding
Connecting an AI answer to information that can support what it says.
Example
An assistant answers a policy question using the organization's policy document.
Why people use it
It helps AI answer using relevant material instead of relying only on remembered patterns.
What you'll hear
“Let's give it the actual policy to work from.”
What this means for you
Check that the cited evidence actually supports the answer.
Can you control it?
Sometimes
Sometimes. Your choices depend on the tool and your access. The settings available to an everyday user may differ from those available to the people running it.
Common questions
- Does grounding eliminate hallucinations?
- No. Finding information can miss information and the AI system can still misread it.
- Does adding a document guarantee it was used?
- No. A system can overlook a passage or answer without properly using the material supplied.
- Can an answer be well grounded in a bad source?
- Yes. It can accurately reflect a source that is itself mistaken or outdated.