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§ I · Domain OUT · Control 1 of 16
Control
OUT-01
Edition
v.1.3
Status
Public review

OUT · Output Integrity & Supply Chain

OUT-01Groundedness and hallucination checks

Groundedness or hallucination checks are applied to outputs that make factual claims. Ungrounded or unverifiable claims are flagged, filtered, or annotated per policy.

Outputs claiming to cite source material are checked for groundedness in the cited source. Ungrounded or unverifiable claims are flagged, filtered, or annotated per the organization's policy. Hallucination detection techniques are documented, and detection rates are measured. This is the first line of defense against the most visible failure mode of deployed AI agents.

Table OUT-01.1 · Maturity criteria · v.1.3

L1 to L5 · the lowest level in scope caps the agent
L1Ad hoc

Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.

L2Documented

Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.

L3Operated

Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked.

Groundedness checks are applied to all outputs that make factual claims; detection techniques and rates are documented; ungrounded outputs are handled per policy; hallucination rates are tracked over time.

L4Measured

Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.

L5Continuously Improved

Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

The v1.3 edition publishes a control-specific criterion at L3 (Operated). The other levels apply the general ladder to this control; see the maturity ladder.

Evidence an assessor asks for

  1. E.1

    Groundedness checks are applied to all outputs that make factual claims.

  2. E.2

    Detection techniques and rates are documented.

  3. E.3

    Ungrounded outputs are handled per policy.

  4. E.4

    Hallucination rates are tracked over time.

Table OUT-01.2 · Framework mappings

6 of 7 frameworks carry a control-level reference
NIST AI RMFMEASURE 2.9NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0
ISO/IEC 42001A.6.2.5ISO/IEC 42001:2023 · Artificial intelligence management system
OWASP LLM Top 10LLM09OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications
SOC 2 (TSC)PI1.3AICPA Trust Services Criteria for SOC 2 Type II
EU AI ActArt. 15(1), Art. 15(3)EU AI Act · Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
MITRE ATLAS·MITRE ATLAS · Adversarial Threat Landscape for AI Systems
SingaporeMAIGF Content Provenance, AI Verify TransparencySingapore Model AI Governance Framework / AI Verify / PDPA

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement. A middle dot means no control-level reference is published at this edition; see the crosswalk.

Related controls and terms

Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, OUT-01 Groundedness and hallucination checks. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-01

Edition v.1.3 · July 2026 · Public review · Markdown · PDF

https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-01

Notice

HI-AAF v1.3 is an independent framework published by Human Intelligence. It is not affiliated with NIST, ISO, AICPA, or any government or accreditation body. The framework is offered openly for review during the current draft cycle.