# What is grounding in AI?

> Giving a model real source text to answer from, such as Bible passages or church documents, instead of relying on memory alone.

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/grounding
By Andrew Kittridge · November 10, 2026

Also called: retrieval-augmented generation, RAG

## Why it matters for Christians

Grounded answers invent less. They can still misread the source, so the source should be visible.

## What to do

Prefer tools that show the verse beside the answer, so you can see what it was grounded in. If a tool cannot show its source, treat its answer as a starting point, not a citation.

## Related words

- [Hallucination](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/hallucination.md): When an AI states something false with confidence, such as a made-up fact, quote, or Bible verse.
- [Citation](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/citation.md): A named source, such as a Bible reference or document, that supports a claim in an answer.
- [Embeddings](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/embeddings.md): A way of representing text as numbers so software can find passages with similar meaning, not only matching words.

Every word: [Christian AI glossary](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary.md)