---
title: "Spotting hallucinations — StudioMeyer Academy"
description: "Why AI confidently lies and how to notice it."
canonical: "https://studiomeyer.academy/en/lernwege/loslegen/grenzen-und-sicherheit/02-halluzinationen"
language: en
image: "https://studiomeyer.academy/og/academy-og-share.png"
publisher: "StudioMeyer Academy, https://studiomeyer.academy (llms.txt: https://studiomeyer.academy/llms.txt)"
---

## What is a hallucination?

The model invents facts, quotes, paper titles, people, or links, and presents them as established knowledge. It doesn't "know" that it doesn't know.

## Classic hallucination patterns

- Made-up book or paper titles with "real" authors
- URLs that look plausible but don't exist
- Wrong version numbers or dates for software
- Completely fabricated quotes from real people
- Wrong code APIs that look like they could exist

## How to protect yourself

1. **Don't trust any number** the model gives you without a source
2. **Ask for sources**, but check them yourself
3. **Ask about uncertainty:** "How sure are you?"
4. **For code:** always test, never copy blindly
5. **For legal/medical/financial:** always a second source

Rule of thumb: the more specific a statement sounds, the more suspicious you should be.

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Get started · Module 3 of 4

## Limits and safety

[Afterwards: Your first result](https://studiomeyer.academy/en/lernwege/loslegen#module-erstes-ergebnis) [Back to learning path](https://studiomeyer.academy/en/lernwege/loslegen)

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Public pages of this site as Markdown: [sitemap](https://studiomeyer.academy/sitemap.md). Curated entry point: [llms.txt](https://studiomeyer.academy/llms.txt), full text: [llms-full.txt](https://studiomeyer.academy/llms-full.txt).