hallucination

noun

Etymology: Derives from the verb hallucinate, from Latin hallucinatus. Compare French hallucination. The first known usage in the English language is from Sir Thomas Browne.

1. A sensory perception of something that does not exist, often arising from disorder of the nervous system, as in delirium tremens.

   “Hallucinations are always evidence of cerebral derangement and are common phenomena of insanity.”

   “The authorities said that the spinach had caused “possible food-related toxic reactions” with those affected experiencing symptoms including delirium, hallucinations, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat and fever.”

2. The act of hallucinating; a wandering of the mind; an error, mistake or blunder.

   “This must have been the hallucination of the transcriber.”

3. A confident but incorrect response given by an artificial intelligence; a confabulation.

   “Chatbots even forget that they are a bot and experience "hallucinations", Meta's description for when a bot confidently says something that is not true.”

   “Hallucinations are about adhering to the truth; when A.I. systems get confused, they have a bad habit of making things up rather than admitting their difficulties.”