What is grounding? Source-based answers still need verified citations
Explain grounding and retrieval and verify claim support, versions and missing evidence.
Understand the concept
Grounding connects generated answers to supplied or retrieved evidence instead of model knowledge alone. Search or knowledge bases can supply sources, but links do not establish truth. Verify each claim and retain unknowns. Finding relevant pages differs from faithfully using them.
Existing sources do not necessarily support a conclusion
Google connects outputs with verifiable sources and Microsoft describes retrieval before generation. Related pages may not support an amount or date, and models can merge incompatible conditions. Check key facts against passages rather than link counts. Even official sources need version and date checks for the current question.
Trace what material the model actually received
For product file limits, retain retrieved passages and match each number. Add an unsupported follow-up and check uncertainty. Homepages and wrong-version citations require correction. No search or knowledge base was run here. A coincidentally correct answer without supplied evidence does not establish grounding; preserve the source-to-claim relationship.
Recheck old conclusions after source updates
Indexes and caches may retain withdrawn sources, so verify updates affect answers. Include version and citation maintenance. Separate retrieval gaps from unfaithful generation to locate repairs. Grounding improves traceability without eliminating errors or replacing critical human checks. State used evidence and unresolved gaps rather than hiding them behind citation-like formatting.
Checked sources
These sources support the concepts and methods described here. Examples and test scope are labeled separately; check the version of the tools you use.