Grounding

Grounding means tying model claims to retrieved documents, tools, or other checkable evidence instead of parametric memory alone.

Grounded systems retrieve or fetch evidence, then require the answer to use it. RAG is the common pattern; tool results and databases are others. Grounding is a product property you measure with faithfulness evals, not a checkbox on a model card. Citations must use real source IDs. Search grounding features from providers still need your own allowlists and logging.