Grounding

Tying a model's answer to a trusted source, such as a specific document, record, or database, so it is based on real information rather than generated from memory. Grounding is the main defense against hallucination: instead of letting the model produce a plausible-sounding answer on its own, you make it draw from and point to source material, often using retrieval-augmented generation. For clinicians and the people who buy these tools, a grounded answer that cites where it came from can be checked, which is what makes it safer to act on than an ungrounded one.

Terms like this come up in real clinical scenarios across the HelloAI courses: bite-sized modules with verifiable certificates. An account takes one minute, no password needed.