# OUT-01 Groundedness and hallucination checks

Domain: OUT Output Integrity & Supply Chain · HI-AAF v1.3 · Public review · https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-01

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.

## Maturity

- L1 Ad hoc: Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.
- L2 Documented: Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.
- L3 Operated: Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked. Published criterion for OUT-01: 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.
- L4 Measured: Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.
- L5 Continuously Improved: Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

## Evidence an assessor asks for

- 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.

## Framework mappings

- NIST AI RMF: MEASURE 2.9
- ISO/IEC 42001: A.6.2.5
- OWASP LLM Top 10: LLM09
- SOC 2 (TSC): PI1.3
- EU AI Act: Art. 15(1), Art. 15(3)
- Singapore: MAIGF Content Provenance, AI Verify Transparency

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement.

## Related

- Cited by OUT-04 Citation and provenance: https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-04
- Glossary: Groundedness: https://humanintel.net/standard/glossary#groundedness

## 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