"Tell me everything you know about (obscure small town), (state). Only what's unique to (town), not commonly-known facts" is an excellent way to test for hallucinatory tendencies in a new model, in my experience. Likely the best I've found.

Quality of results is almost linearly proportional to the size of the model in many cases. The largest models like K3 and GLM 5.3 will either confine their responses to known true facts about the town and its surroundings, or admit they don't have enough information to answer. Smaller ones will reliably make up hilarious or downright-strange things.

Another good test is https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/ai-a-dedicated-fact-f... , which still works on the newest models. Of the open-weight models available, only Kimi K3 will consistently admit it has no idea who Scalzi's novel is dedicated to. The rest still make up random stuff and present it confidently.

TL,DR: progress is possible, and it has been made, but it's happening slower than many people think.