A week ago, the Cambridge Dictionary announced 'Hallucinate' as its Word of the Year for 2023. The word was announced in the context of AI developments taking place in the year.
The traditional meaning of hallucination as per the dictionary is "to seem to see, hear, feel or smell something that does not exist", it's almost you imagining things that aren't there.
When using the word hallucinate in AI, it means something that produces false information. "When an AI hallucinates, it produces false information," the Cambridge Dictionary explains.
Cambridge Dictionary provided some examples of how you can use the word in the AI realm. "The latest version of the chatbot is greatly improved but it will still hallucinate facts", it wrote.
Dr Shevlin, from the University of Cambridge, said, "hallucinate is an evocative verb implying an agent experiencing a disconnect from reality. his linguistic choice reflects a subtle yet profound shift in perception: the AI, not the user, is the one hallucinating."