A polished chat UI does not prove your RAG system is trustworthy. Groundedness means answers are supported by retrieved sources — not by model memory or confident guesswork.
Build a golden set of questions from real SOPs, policies, and edge cases. Score retrieval hit rate, citation correctness, and whether the final answer stays within the retrieved text.
Hybrid retrieval and reranking often move the needle more than swapping the LLM. Measure chunk quality and freshness before chasing a larger model.
Refuse when retrieval is empty. A clear “I don’t have that in approved sources” is safer than a fluent hallucination for HR, legal, and compliance teams.
Digicane ships evaluation loops with every knowledge AI engagement so releases are gated on groundedness, not vibes.