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Research . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Research . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Specification Induced Speculation Whitepaper

Authors: Abdullah, Hamza;

Specification Induced Speculation Whitepaper

Abstract

Specification Induced Speculation is the failure mode in which an AI model, given an instruction that does not fully define the intended behaviour of the system being built, fills the undefined regions with outputs that are plausible, coherent, internally consistent, and wrong — not because the model malfunctioned, but because the instruction was incomplete. The model did exactly what it was designed to do: it completed what it was given. The decisions it made in the unspecified regions were not authorised by any human, were not verified against any requirement, and are invisible in the output because they look indistinguishable from the decisions that were authorised. The failure is not hallucination — the model invented nothing. It speculated, faithfully and silently, about what was intended. The speculation was induced by the specification — or the absence of one.

Keywords

AI prompt engineering, AI specification, AI hallucination

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green