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Prompt Engineering: How to Prevent LLM Hallucinations

Learn efficient strategies to prevent hallucinations in large language models (LLMs) for your Prompt Engineering Certification exam. Detailed explanation of fine-tuning techniques and practical examples included.

Question

You train a large language model (LLM) on high-quality research papers that specify the working of aircraft. The model can answer questions related to the aircraft but lacks practical thinking. What efficient steps could you take to prevent the model from hallucinating?

A. Use well-designed prompts to force the model to provide practical insights.
B. Create a separate model using the same papers and combine both models’ outputs.
C. Fine-tune the model with both technical data and practical aircraft examples.
D. Use papers to create distinct models based on aircraft size and combine each model’s output.

Answer

C. Fine-tune the model with both technical data and practical aircraft examples.

Explanation

Large Language Models (LLMs) often hallucinate when they lack sufficient domain-specific knowledge or practical context. Hallucinations occur when the model generates plausible-sounding but inaccurate information due to gaps in its training data. Fine-tuning is a highly effective method to address this issue.

Why Fine-Tuning Works

  • Domain-Specific Knowledge: By incorporating technical data, the model gains deeper understanding of aircraft systems, ensuring its responses align with factual information.
  • Practical Examples: Adding real-world scenarios and examples helps the model develop practical reasoning capabilities, reducing reliance on assumptions or fabricated information.
  • Improved Accuracy: Fine-tuning adjusts the model’s internal parameters, enhancing its ability to generate contextually relevant and accurate responses.

Why Other Options Are Less Effective

Option A: Using well-designed prompts can improve response quality but does not address the root cause of hallucinations—the lack of practical training data.

Option B: Combining outputs from separate models trained on similar data may introduce inconsistencies and does not guarantee factual accuracy.

Option D: Creating distinct models based on aircraft size fragments the training process and fails to address the broader issue of hallucinations across all contexts.

Fine-tuning is widely regarded as the most efficient solution for mitigating hallucinations in high-stakes domains like aviation, where accuracy is paramount.

Prompt Engineering skill assessment practice question and answer (Q&A) dump including multiple choice questions (MCQ) and objective type questions, with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Prompt Engineering exam and earn Prompt Engineering certification.