# Detection Is Not a Strategy

> Source: <https://www.cringely.com/2026/06/05/detection-is-not-a-strategy/>
> Published: 2026-06-05 13:43:44+00:00

Every few weeks, someone announces a tool that detects AI hallucinations. A startup, a research lab, a hyperscaler bolting a “trust layer” onto its chatbot. The release uses the word “guardrails.” Everyone nods. Another brick in the road to safe, reliable AI. I want to argue that we are cheering for the wrong thing — that hallucination detection, however clever, cannot be the strategy. It can be a backstop. It can be a monitor. It cannot be the plan. And the reason is older than computing. Start with the trap at the center of the whole idea. To catch a hallucination, your detector has to know the right answer. Sit with what that means. The original model produced a confident falsehood because it did not […]

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