#96 AI Hallucination and the Cost of Synthetic Confidence

AI doesn’t “hallucinate” because it’s broken. It hallucinates because it’s rewarded for coherence under uncertainty.

So are we.

In this episode of Think First, Jim Detjen examines how artificial intelligence, media systems, and human cognition all prioritize fluency over verification — and why smooth narratives feel true long before they’re tested.

This isn’t an anti-technology episode. It’s a structural one.

When speed is rewarded and uncertainty is penalized, completion becomes survival. The machine predicts. Markets predict. Humans predict.

The real question is whether we still know how to pause.

Because hallucination isn’t just a glitch in the system.

It’s what happens when coherence outruns humility.

Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity

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