Glossary

Calibrated abstention

Calibrated abstention is a system declining to answer when its confidence is too low, with the threshold set on held-out data so that the confidence means something.

Context

Setting the threshold is a trade. A higher one catches more errors and sends more items to a person. Setting it on one set of data and reporting on another keeps the result honest.

How Gridnorth handles it

Gridnorth scores every field. Fields below the threshold, or failing a format rule, go to the operator. In testing, 15.3% of fields were flagged and the flags caught 64.4% of errors. Our target is at least 80%. See what is still open.

Last reviewed September 29, 2026