AI Drift Log: Employee Count Hallucination — January 2026
Employee count is the single most hallucinated company fact across all LLMs. We tested 100 companies and found that AI-generated employee counts are wrong more often than they're right.
Test results
- Only 38% of AI-generated employee counts were within 20% of the actual number.
- Average error magnitude: 45% (e.g., actual 500 employees, AI says 275 or 725).
- Models tend to use round numbers (500, 1000, 5000) rather than precise counts.
- Rapidly growing companies had the largest errors (AI uses outdated snapshots).
Why this matters
- Employee count is frequently used as a proxy for company size and credibility.
- Incorrect counts can mislead potential partners, investors, and customers.
- Solution: publish current employee ranges with verification dates in structured data.
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