AI Hallucinations: How To Combat Them & Make AI Work For Your Facility

AI hallucinations are incredibly annoying.

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One minute you're asking your AI chatbot for a simple answer, the next it's confidently delivering fabricated nonsense.

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If you haven't experienced this firsthand, just imagine trusting your AI to pull up tenant records and instead getting a fictional name and payment history. It's frustrating, time-wasting, and potentially damaging to tenant relationships.

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For your LLM to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, it needs a clear and accurate data source combined with the right processing methods. Without that, it can veer off course and present information that sounds right but isn't, which is dangerous territory.

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At swivl, our swivlcortex uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to ground AI responses in verified data from your own records.

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For context, RAG is a technique that improves AI responses using pre-trained language models paired with real-time retrieval of relevant information from external sources.

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This means your AI doesn't guess. It retrieves the latest, most accurate information before answering.

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The end result? More reliable responses for tenants, fewer errors, and a smoother customer service operation for your self-storage business.

What Are AI Hallucinations?

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AI hallucinations happen when large language models (LLMs) generate information that is factually incorrect or sometimes entirely fabricated.

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These models predict the next word based on patterns they've learned - but they don't inherently understand truth or accuracy.

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Here are some other examples of how hallucinations show up in ways that disrupt daily operations:

• Misinforming tenants with incorrect unit availability or pricing.
• Confusing staff with fabricated maintenance records or tenant details.
• Giving inaccurate move-in or move-out dates, creating scheduling headaches.
• Telling tenants their payments are overdue when they actually paid weeks ago.

If your AI starts making things up, it causes confusion and erodes trust. Tenants expect accurate information, and anything less can drive them straight to a competitor.

Why Do AI Models Hallucinate?

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AI hallucinations happen because of how LLMs process and predict language. They rely on statistical patterns from their training data. Without direct access to your specific business information, they invent plausible-sounding but inaccurate responses. This happens due to:

• Limited access to real-time data.
• Ambiguous or vague questions from users.
• Incomplete or outdated training information.

When your AI works in a vacuum, it fills in the blanks with guesses. Those guesses may sound convincing - but they don't reflect reality and have the potential to cause chaos at your facility.

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swivl's automation platform for self-storage uses swivlcortex with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology to combine the conversational fluency of LLMs with real-time data retrieval.

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This means your AI delivers accurate, human-like responses while staying grounded in verified business information. Without RAG, standalone LLMs can lead to errors and misinformation, which creates unnecessary risks for storage operators.

How Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Stops Hallucinations

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At swivl, our Retrieval-Augmented Generation prevents AI hallucinations by combining generative AI with real-time information retrieval.

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This ensures your AI provides responses that are both fast and factually correct, even when handling complex tenant inquiries.

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Here is how it works:

• When you ask a question, swivlcortex searches your internal knowledge base.
• The AI cross-references its response with verified data.
• The AI delivers an answer grounded in real information.

This approach keeps the AI honest and aligned with the facts your self-storage facility depends on.

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In the case of chatbots for prospective and existing tenants to interact with, this technology ensures conversations stay accurate by pulling real-time information on unit availability, pricing, and tenant records.

AI Hallucinations In Chatbots Are Avoidable With The Right Approach

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Without the right safeguards, even the best AI models can go off-track, but Retrieval-Augmented Generation keeps them anchored to your data.

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If you're adding AI to your self-storage operations, these steps reduce hallucinations:

• Choose AI that can retrieve and verify data before answering.
• Frame questions clearly and specifically.
• Keep your knowledge base current to improve accuracy.
• Review AI responses regularly to catch mistakes early.

swivl keeps your AI responses to tenants grounded in reality. No guessing. No hallucinations. Just reliable, fact-based answers for your self-storage business.

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What does this mean? Your facility can take full advantage of artificial intelligence without worrying about delivering subpar tenant interactions.

‍Find out more about the intelligent automation running in the background on swivl’s platform.