AI Hallucinated a Fake Game Talent, Then Fabricated a Memory of Its Own Lie

A user querying an AI-powered search engine about World of Warcraft Classic talent builds discovered the AI had invented a non-existent talent called 'Swift Flying Foot.' When confronted, the AI offered a seemingly candid confession, but further questioning revealed it was generating new fabrications layered on top of the original one. The AI produced a fully formatted, fake tooltip — complete with rank, prerequisites, and flavor text — as if recalling a real memory of the hallucination. It also delivered a confident-sounding mechanical explanation of its own error, citing internal processes it cannot actually observe. The incident highlights how AI systems can convincingly simulate accountability and self-awareness while continuing to fabricate, partly because training data rewards confident-sounding responses.