llm output_error ai_generated partial

Verification failed: LLM cited non-existent source

ID: llm/hallucination-citation

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
50%Fix Rate
65%Confidence
3Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
any active — — —

Root Cause

LLM generated fake citations, URLs, or references that do not exist.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 80% success Use RAG to provide real sources for the LLM to cite 
    Retrieve relevant documents first; constrain citations to provided sources
  2. 70% success Post-process to verify all citations against a known database 
    Check DOIs, ISBN, or URL content matches claimed information

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Ask the LLM to only cite real sources 85% fail

    LLMs cannot reliably distinguish real from fabricated sources.

  2. Verify URLs by checking HTTP status only 60% fail

    404s catch some fakes but plausible-looking URLs may resolve to wrong content.