How RAG Reduces Hallucinations (And When It Fails)

RAG reduces hallucinations by forcing the model to answer using retrieved documents. But if retrieval returns bad context—or the model ignores it—you can still see made‑up answers.

To control hallucinations you need to:

• Continuously test retrieval quality and coverage.
• Penalize answers that are not supported by context.
• Show citations and make it easy for users to verify sources.
• Fallback gracefully when confidence is low or context is missing.

The RAG Systems pillar page covers how to combine these controls with broader RAG evaluation and testing.