Why AI Makes Things Up (And Why It Sounds So Confident)

Why does AI sometimes give a great answer—and other times make something up completely? In this episode of The AI Relay, Jonathan Spanos and Andrew Signore explain AI hallucinations in plain English for people without technical backgrounds.They break down why large language models predict words instead of “thinking” like humans, why that can lead to confident wrong answers, and what it means for everyday users of tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.In this episode, they explore:- what an AI hallucination actually is- why prediction can lead to made-up answers- why AI can sound confident even when it is wrong- what RAG (retrieval augmented generation) means in normal language- why “human in the loop” still matters- how to use AI better without being afraid of itIf you’ve ever wondered why AI can feel brilliant one minute and unreliable the next, this episode will give you a much clearer mental model for what’s happening.Hosted by Jonathan Spanos and Andrew Signore.The AI Relay explains AI in plain English for beginners and early users.What’s the strangest or most confidently wrong thing AI has ever told you?