A citation is a reference to a source used to support an AI-generated response. In chatbot systems, citations usually point to web pages, documents, or snippets that were retrieved during answer generation. They help users inspect where the model got its information and can expose whether the answer is grounded in real evidence or just model memory.
Citations matter in cyber security because they affect trust, provenance, and auditability. A cited source is not automatically correct: attackers can publish misleading pages, optimize content for retrieval, or embed instructions that influence what a system surfaces. Defenders therefore verify cited material, rank trusted sources higher, and compare multiple references before accepting an answer. In secure deployments, citations are treated as a starting point for validation, not proof of truth.