AI models of unstable flow exhibit hallucination
We report the first systematic evidence of hallucination in AI models of fluid dynamics, demonstrated in the canonical problem of hydrodynamically unstable transport known as viscous fingering. AI-based modeling of flow with instabilities remains challenging because rapidly evolving, multiscale fingering patterns are difficult to resolve accurately. We identify solutions that appear visually realistic yet are physically implausible, analogous to hallucinations in large language models. These hallucinations manifest as spurious fluid interfaces and reverse diffusion that violate conservation laws. We show that their origin lies in the spectral bias of AI models, which becomes dominant at h...
| Authors | Ramdhan Wibawa, Birendra Jha |
|---|---|
| Primary category | physics.flu-dyn |
| Published | 22 April 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 22 April 2026 |
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