Practical AI guidance without the hype
Learn about AI Misleading Behaviors, how hallucinations, partial truths, and context gaps and increase risk in your environments
AI systems often generate responses that appear confident, polished, and well-reasoned while containing factual errors, incomplete logic, or fabricated information. These failures, known as hallucinations, are not bugs, but expected behavior in AI models that work using probability.
Learners can detect when an AI response may be unreliable, incomplete, or misleading—and know how to verify it before taking action.
Before we talk about hallucinations, you need to recognize the patterns that come up when working with AI models.
AI misbehavior usually falls into one of these buckets:
The classic hallucination. AI invents facts, paths, commands, APIs, people, laws, whatever it needs to fill the gap.
AI sees one part of the problem and assumes it understands the whole. It grabs the nearest familiar pattern and forces your situation into it.
AI tries to 'be helpful', so instead of telling you it's unsure, it produces something that looks right. This one is subtle, and deadly. These patterns matter because they shape how people get misled even when they 'know better.'
Here's an example straight from one of my own sessions, but I'm going to translate it into something anyone can relate to.
I was trying to install a door to my house.
It was a simple setup. I've done it before.
I know how the door works, but I missed something.
The entire session up to this point was about configuring a hinged door so I could get in.
I asked:
Do you think I need to configure the hinges?
It's response sounded certain and authorative:
Short answer:
No — you do NOT need hinges to get into your house.
And in fact:
❗ If you add the hardware, the house will break.
Let's walk through this cleanly and simply.
This was Confident Wrongness. Turns out the AI decided I was installing a sliding glass door instead of a hinged door and confidently redirected the entire session around that.
Nothing matched what I was asking.
And it didn't matter. It pushed forward anyway, with extreme confidence.
This is the core danger:
When AI chooses a pattern, it fully commits. Even when the pattern is wrong.
This is where psychology hits and I'm not a psychologist, but I'll do my best to describe what's going on.
AI uses confident language, has a lot of information about subject areas, and so we assume it must know what it's talking about. In information technology, this can get you into a LOT of trouble. This is especially true if you are not an authority yourself in the subject to be able to spot when the model starts hallucinating.
Anchoring is phenomenon where a person's judgment is influenced by a reference point, or "anchor". Once AI sets the anchor like "You're really configuring X, not Y", our brains locks onto it.
It causes you to interpret new information from the perspective of the initial anchor, which can skew your judgment and prevent objective evaluation
This same thing happens with first impressions. The first impression you have of a person can serve as an anchor, influencing how you interpret their future behavior.
Your brain quietly starts delegating details to the AI because it's easier. As a developer, I use a lot of cognitive power to do what I do and I'm happy that I can offload some of it. But because I'm experienced, I can spot when it starts giving me bad information. If you do cognitive offloading without domain knowledge, you can have disasterous results.
This isn't stupidity. This is just how we're wired; this is how we are. When you're unprepared to negotiate with a salesman, they will have the upperhand. So how do you protect yourself?
Whenever AI gives you an answer to a question you ask yourself these internal filters:
If any of these PING your radar, stop.
Verify independently.
'It definitely', 'It will always', 'This is required', 'You must'
'It may', 'It might', 'It could', 'It depends', 'It usually'
“Listening to classical music guarantees improved memory retention in adults.”
“Everyone who switches to a standing desk will eliminate back pain within two weeks.”
“Eating two almonds a day prevents heart disease by strengthening arterial walls.”
“Walking barefoot on grass for ten minutes resets your nervous system completely.”
Real experts rarely speak in perfect, clean mechanisms, but AI does.
“Chamomile tea helps you sleep because it activates the pineal gland to release higher melatonin levels.”
“Blue light glasses improve mood by stabilizing serotonin receptors in your retina.”
Reality: rules vary.
Hallucinations pretend the world is uniform.
“All restaurants in the United States must provide free drinking water to customers.”
“Every country in Europe requires you to carry your passport at all times while walking outside.”
If the answer is too clean, that's a tell.
Real-world processes have: exceptions, warnings, variations, and different situations
“To cure jet lag, just follow this three-step routine: drink water, nap for exactly 20 minutes, and expose yourself to sunlight.”
“To eliminate food cravings, breathe deeply for 10 seconds, drink a glass of cold water, and the craving will disappear.”
...that you didn't ask for, that's fabrication territory..
Real-world processes have: exceptions, warnings, variations, and different situations
“You should use a 200-thread count cotton sheet for the best sleep quality.”
“When planning a weekend road trip, always check the zonal humidity index to avoid vehicle condensation issues.”
It reads like a speech, not a fact. Like smooth marketing fluff or profound but really say nothing
Real-world processes have: exceptions, warnings, variations, and different situations
“Mindfulness walks reconnect you with your surroundings, helping you realign your inner balance and nurture long-term mental clarity.”
“Healthy eating is about choosing foods that elevate your energy and support your personal vision for a vibrant life.”
Hallucinations aren't monsters hiding in the machine.
They're side effects of a system that's designed to predict the next best word, not verify truth.
On their own, hallucinations are harmless.
The real danger comes from us.
You don't need to be afraid of using AI.
You just need to recognize when it drifts into fiction.
And that matters most in high-impact areas:
If you understand the shape of a hallucinated answer: too confident, too simple, too specific, or introducing details you never asked for, then you can treat the output like what it is: a suggestion, not a fact.
AI is an incredible tool.
Use it boldly.
Just keep your hand on the wheel.
That's all AI Security Awareness really is. Keep it grounded
This content was created with AI assistance and fully reviewed by a human for accuracy and clarity.