While AI has made it easy for businesses to effectively create content at scale, it has also brought about the issue of "AI content hallucinations," where fact and fiction can become blurred. This poses a significant risk to brand’s content marketing success, potentially resulting in disastrous consequences. To combat this, we have compiled five helpful tips for limiting AI content hallucinations and ensuring marketing success.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at why these distortions happen in the first place.

Understanding AI Hallucinations

A hallucination occurs when an AI model produces an output that is either nonsensical or false. Let's imagine a low-stakes hallucination example: You ask an AI chatbot for the weather forecast, and it responds with "It will be raining cats and dogs!" Clearly, that's not a reliable or accurate answer.

This happens because the generative process of AI models is complex and sometimes they get confused or make things up. AI models, like ChatGPT, are trained to generate text based on patterns they've learned from lots of data. They try to imitate human language and come up with responses that sound like something a person would say. But because they don't really understand the meaning behind the words, language models can sometimes get it wrong or produce nonsense.

Another reason for AI hallucinations is that AI models don't have a built-in sense of different tones of voice. They don't know if they should be formal, casual, funny, or serious. So, they might use the wrong tone of voice for a given situation, which can lead to weird or inappropriate responses.

However, hallucinations can also have more serious consequences. For instance, imagine a business using an AI chatbot to generate marketing content. If the chatbot provides false information about a product or service, it could mislead potential customers and damage the business's reputation.

To prevent these hallucinations, we need to give AI models clear rules and guidance, just like we do with people. By setting boundaries with brand rules, guiding them with brand-approved messaging, establishing a strong tone of voice, and using clearly-defined target audiences to refine outputs, we can minimize AI hallucinations and ensure that the generated content is accurate, reliable, and relevant.

Tip #1: Setting Boundaries with Brand Rules

One important way to prevent content hallucinations in AI-generated writing is by setting boundaries with brand rules. These instructions help AI content platforms understand how your brand wants to communicate – and without them, you’ll likely have a hard time consistently generating on-brand copy. 

If you own a fashion brand, for instance, you may want to steer clear of using the word "cheap" in your copy and substitute it with terms like "affordable" or "budget-friendly." By using Anyword's Brand Rules feature, you can easily identify and replace inappropriate or undesirable words in your AI-generated content. This guarantees that your content always adheres to your brand's language standards.

AI models, like ChatGPT, are powerful tools, but they still require guidance to produce content that accurately reflects a brand's values and tone of voice. By setting clear boundaries and brand rules, you ensure that the AI-generated content remains consistent and aligned with your brand's messaging. This way, you minimize the risk of content hallucinations and can confidently create content that resonates with your audience.

Tip #2: Guiding AI with  Approved Messaging 

One powerful way to guide AI in generating content that accurately reflects a brand's voice (and prevent hallucinations generated by AI), is by using a bank of approved messaging. 

Imagine crafting a press release for your company's latest initiative. Toward the end of the article, you need that standard "About Us" section – a concise piece of copy that captures the essence of your company. Here’s the potential pitfall: Allow an AI to extrapolate freely, and it might generate a generic and possibly misleading statement like, "We're a forward-thinking company pushing boundaries in tech." Generally on topic, but ultimately meaningless.

Build a messaging bank, and set predefined assets that provide important information unique to your company and products. These assets include a company's bio, mission statement, 1-liner, and elevator pitch. 

By leveraging Messaging Bank assets, like your company's bio, you can give any AI a blueprint for reference. This means that instead of a vague descriptor, Anyword will produce content that matches your stored description: "Founded in 2010, [Company Name] has been at the forefront of AI-driven solutions, dedicated to innovating and reshaping the technological landscape."

Tackling this cause of AI hallucination ensures that every press release and article is not just compelling, but also a true reflection of your brand, eliminating the risk of AI deviations.

Tip #3: Establishing a Strong Tone of Voice for Generating On-Brand Content

Your brand’s tone of voice is the unique personality and style that defines how a brand communicates with its audience. By clearly defining and implementing a tone of voice, businesses can guide the AI system to generate content that aligns with their desired tone and messaging.

Imagine if a luxury brand known for its elegant and sophisticated image suddenly started using slang and colloquial language in its AI-generated content. This would be a clear deviation from the brand's established voice and could confuse or alienate its target audience.

On the other hand, if the tone of voice is well-defined, an AI content generator can be trained to emulate that voice and generate content that accurately reflects the brand's identity. For example, a brand with a youthful and playful tone of voice can guide the AI system to generate content that uses casual language and incorporates humor or pop culture references.

By establishing a strong brand tone of voice, businesses can ensure that the AI-generated content remains consistent, on-brand, and aligned with the audience's expectations. So, don't underestimate the power of a well-defined brand voice in guiding AI outputs and minimizing content hallucinations.

Tip #4: Using Target Audiences to Create Personalized Content with AI

Without a clear understanding of who the content is intended for, AI systems can sometimes produce irrelevant or misleading information. Here’s an example:

When creating copy for, say a beauty brand, if the AI model doesn't have a defined target audience, it may generate content that is suitable for teenagers but not for older adults. So, when a 50-year-old customer reads a piece of content full of slang and trendy language, it most likely won’t resonate with them and could give the impression that the brand isn’t relevant for them.

Businesses need to define their target audience and input specific characteristics such as age, location, and interests. Anyword’s Target Audience tool does this automatically, defining customers down to their precise pain points. 

By refining outputs based on the persona, you can avoid content hallucinations caused by a mismatch between the generated content and the intended recipients – ensuring the generated content is relevant, engaging, and speaks directly to the target audience in a language they understand.

Tip #5: Harnessing the Proven Power of Human Oversight

Now that we've covered some valuable tips for minimizing AI hallucinations in content generation, it's time to reveal our bonus tip: the human factor.

While AI technology has come a long way in creating accurate and reliable content, it's still essential to have human oversight to ensure the quality and authenticity of the output. Skilled human editors bring their expertise, experience, and critical thinking abilities to the table, identifying any discrepancies or misleading information. 

While AI can generate content efficiently and (with the help of these tips) accurately, it may lack the finesse and emotional intelligence that only humans possess. By combining the strengths of both AI and human editors, businesses can create content that is not only reliable but also engaging and effective.

Remember, the goal is not to replace human writers and editors with AI, but to leverage the power of AI to enhance their capabilities. It's the extra layer of scrutiny and expertise that will help you deliver content that is accurate, reliable, and resonates with your target audience.