Grounding
The process of connecting an AI's answers to verified, real-world facts or specific documents to prevent it from making things up.
In Plain English
Grounding is like forcing an AI to show its work and cite its sources. Left to its own devices, an AI might hallucinate an answer. By grounding the AI, you force it to anchor its response to a trusted database, like a company website or a verified news article. If the answer is not in the grounded data, the AI is programmed to say "I do not know" instead of guessing.
Real-World Example
A customer service bot that is grounded in a store's return policy, ensuring it never promises a customer a refund they aren't entitled to.