AI chats often sound calm and certain. That tone is part of how they write — not a sign they looked something up.
What “hallucination” means here
The model is guessing likely next words. Sometimes the guess is a clean sentence that isn’t true: a fake quote, a wrong date, a made-up policy, a phone number that looks real.
How to spot it
- Exact facts with no source you can open
- Details that sound local or personal but you never gave them
- Links, laws, or product names you can’t verify in one search
- Anything about money, health, legal, or accounts
What to do
Use it for a first draft or a plain explanation. Then check the parts that matter on a site you trust, or ask a person who knows. If it’s urgent and asks for money or passwords, stop — that’s a scam path, not a research path.
Done when
You know confident ≠ true, and you verify before you act.