Hallucination
What it is
A hallucination is output from a language model that sounds plausible but isn't supported by any source, such as a setting that doesn't exist or an API parameter the product never had.
Why it matters
In support, a hallucinated answer is worse than no answer: the customer acts on it, it fails, and trust drops for every answer after it.
Best practices
- Ground and cite – Require a source for every factual claim.
- Check against the live system – Docs go stale; code and config are current.
- Review before sending at first – Run in draft mode until accuracy is proven.
How Decimal helps
Decimal grounds answers in your real systems and shows its evidence, so reviewers can verify a response before it reaches a customer.