factuality

Factuality refers to the quality or state of being based on facts, rather than on opinion, speculation, or imagination. In philosophy and epistemology, it denotes the correspondence of a proposition to reality, serving as a central criterion for truth. Linguistics distinguishes factuality as the speaker’s assessment of the actual occurrence of an event described by a clause; linguistic expressions such as “must,” “might,” and “actually” encode varying degrees of factual commitment. In the sciences, factuality underpins the empirical method, where observations are recorded, replicated, and subjected to peer review to establish reliable knowledge.

The concept also appears in information retrieval and artificial intelligence, where algorithms are evaluated for their ability to produce factually accurate outputs. Metrics such as precision, recall, and factual consistency assess whether generated statements align with verified data sources. Challenges arise when models hallucinate information, prompting research into fact-checking pipelines and grounding techniques that tie generated text to trustworthy references.

Related terms include truth, verifiability, and reliability. While factuality emphasizes correspondence to objective reality, it does not address the relevance, completeness, or interpretive framing of information, which are addressed by complementary concepts in communication and knowledge management.