What hallucinations look like
- A book, court case or research paper that does not exist.
- A tax rate, fee or deadline that is out of date or invented.
- A quote attributed to someone who never said it.
- A link that leads nowhere.
How to reduce them
Anthropic’s documentation lists practical steps (Claude documentation): give the model permission to say "I don’t know", ask it to quote the source text before answering, and ask it to back each claim with a citation, removing any claim it cannot support. The same page warns that these steps reduce hallucinations but do not remove them.
The habit that matters most
Check every fact that matters against a primary source before you use it. For Pakistan-specific facts, such as FBR rules, bank charges or course fees, go to the official website. A model may not know about a rule that changed last month, so recent and local details are where you need to check hardest.