Plain English · 1 min
Grounding: why your AI needs your real information.
If you learn one piece of AI jargon, make it this one — it's the difference between a tool that represents you and a tool that improvises about you.
Plain English · Updated 24 September 2026
The definition
If a model isn't grounded, it might guess your opening hours. If it is grounded, it will give your actual hours. The same model can have very different risks. That's why you should ask anyone selling you AI: 'Is it grounded, in what, and how does it stay current?'
What it looks like in practice
Imagine a salon assistant who knows the treatment list, prices, staff rota, and cancellation policy by heart. When a customer asks about a balayage on Saturday, she checks the rota and price list, not outdated memories. If prices change, she updates her source, staying accurate without retraining. The truth is always in one place.
Our site works the same way. My knowledge of Katalis's prices and services comes from maintained documents. My company research uses live public data. The model provides the language; the facts come from the grounding.
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Ask me our prices, then ask me something we've never written down — and notice the difference in how I answer.
Quiz a grounded AI →Prefer to just ask? Chat with Katalis · More from the blog