General Concept

Grounding

Canonical ID https://id.searchplex.net/grounding/

The practice or goal of anchoring generated or system output in supplied, retrieved, or otherwise authoritative source information.

Also called

  • AI Grounding

Scope

In AI and RAG systems, grounding is often discussed as a way to reduce unsupported or fabricated claims. Retrieval can support grounding, but grounding may also use provided context, tools, databases, citations, or other evidence sources.

Not equivalent to

  • Grounding is not Retrieval-Augmented Generation. RAG is one architecture pattern that can support grounding; grounding is the broader output-quality goal of tying claims to source material.
  • Grounding is not Retrieval. Retrieval selects source material; grounding concerns whether output is supported by source material.
  • Grounding is not Question Answering. Question answering is a task objective; grounding concerns whether an answer or generated response is supported by source material.
  • Grounding is not Semantic Search. Semantic search retrieves by meaning; grounding concerns whether output is supported by source material.

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