If it cannot cite a source, it should not answer.
Answers either cite verified sources or refuse. Citations are testable before customers see them.
Require AI answers to cite approved sources or refuse. Wiki tests citation behavior in the Answer Playground and serves it through Wiki Connect.
Fluent answers without receipts create silent risk.
A chatbot can sound correct while inventing a policy detail. Without citations, nobody can audit the claim in the transcript.
Support leads discover the failure when a customer quotes the bot back to a human agent. By then the damage is already in the thread.
Citation-backed answers make every claim checkable against an approved document.
What citation-backed answering requires
Citations are a product requirement, not a prompt flourish.
- Step 1
Verify the sources first
There is nothing honest to cite until documents are reviewed.
- Step 2
Require citations in policy
High-risk questions need a citation or a refusal.
- Step 3
Test citation quality
Use the Answer Playground on refund, billing, and cancellation questions.
- Step 4
Serve through Wiki Connect
Your bot gets the same citation-backed decision the Playground showed.
How Wiki implements citation-backed answers
Playground, Connect, and verification in one loop.
Answer Playground
Wiki Connect
Verified sources
Questions teams ask first.
- Do citations stop all hallucinations?
- No. Citations make claims auditable and pair with refusal when evidence is missing. That is the practical control.
- Can I require citations only for some questions?
- Yes. Use policies and contracts so high-risk claims require citation while low-risk FAQ can stay lighter.
- Where do I see citations in Wiki?
- In the Answer Playground and in Wiki Connect API responses for each run.
Essays, tools, and the product.
From the blog
The Complete Guide to Citation-Backed AI Support
Customer-facing AI should show where the answer came from, know when it lacks an approved source, and escalate when documentation cannot support a reliable answer.
Why Your AI Chatbot Keeps Giving Different Answers
Inconsistent chatbot answers usually come from fragmented sources, stale docs, conflicting policies, and missing governance, not random model behavior.
RAG Is Not a Source of Truth
Retrieval can find context. It does not decide whether that context is current, approved, allowed for the audience, or safe to cite.
Tools
Your AI is already talking.
Make sure it knows what it is talking about.