---
id: "quote-hallucinations-bad-predictions"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Behavioral Change"]
tags: ["ai-mechanics", "framing"]
related: ["concept-gen-ai-hallucinations"]
speaker: "Tom Davenport and John J. Sviokla"
speakers: ["Tom Davenport", "John J. Sviokla"]
quote: "given the possibility of hallucinations (really just bad predictions by these statistical models), it’s important for humans to review the output of gen AI models."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-cl-95-6-disciplines-genai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-6-disciplines-companies-need-to-get-the-most-out-of-gen-ai"
sourceTitle: "The 6 Disciplines Companies Need to Get the Most Out of Gen AI"
---
# Hallucinations as bad predictions

> "given the possibility of hallucinations (really just bad predictions by these statistical models), it's important for humans to review the output of gen AI models."
> — [[entity-tom-davenport]] and [[entity-john-j-sviokla]]

The authors demystify the anthropomorphic term *hallucinations* by grounding it in the reality of how LLMs function — probabilistic prediction, not reasoning. This is the source line behind [[concept-gen-ai-hallucinations]] and the universal review requirement in [[concept-behavioral-change-gen-ai]].