The 70% factuality ceiling: why Google’s new ‘FACTS’ benchmark is a wake-up call for enterprise AI

There is not any scarcity of generative AI benchmarks designed to measure the efficiency and accuracy of a given mannequin on finishing numerous useful enterprise duties — from coding to instruction following to agentic web browsing and tool use. However many of those benchmarks have one main shortcoming: they measure the AI’s potential to finish particular issues and requests, not how factual the mannequin is in its outputs — how properly it generates objectively appropriate info tied to real-world knowledge — particularly when coping with info contained in imagery or graphics.

For industries the place accuracy is paramount — authorized, finance, and medical — the dearth of a standardized technique to measure factuality has been a essential blind spot.

That modifications right this moment: Google’s FACTS staff and its knowledge science unit Kaggle released the FACTS Benchmark Suite, a comprehensive evaluation framework designed to shut this hole.

The related research paper reveals a extra nuanced definition of the issue, splitting “factuality” into two distinct operational eventualities: “contextual factuality” (grounding responses in offered knowledge) and “world data factuality” (retrieving info from reminiscence or the net).

Whereas the headline information is Gemini 3 Professional’s top-tier placement, the deeper story for builders is the industry-wide “factuality wall.”

Based on the preliminary outcomes, no mannequin—together with Gemini 3 Professional, GPT-5, or Claude 4.5 Opus—managed to crack a 70% accuracy rating throughout the suite of issues. For technical leaders, it is a sign: the period of “belief however confirm” is much from over.

Deconstructing the Benchmark

The FACTS suite strikes past easy Q&A. It’s composed of 4 distinct assessments, every simulating a unique real-world failure mode that builders encounter in manufacturing:

1. Parametric Benchmark (Inside Data): Can the mannequin precisely reply trivia-style questions utilizing solely its coaching knowledge?

2. Search Benchmark (Device Use): Can the mannequin successfully use an internet search software to retrieve and synthesize dwell info?

3. Multimodal Benchmark (Imaginative and prescient): Can the mannequin precisely interpret charts, diagrams, and pictures with out hallucinating?

4. Grounding Benchmark v2 (Context): Can the mannequin stick strictly to the offered supply textual content?

Google has launched 3,513 examples to the general public, whereas Kaggle holds a personal set to stop builders from coaching on the check knowledge—a typical concern referred to as “contamination.”

The Leaderboard: A Sport of Inches

The preliminary run of the benchmark locations Gemini 3 Professional within the lead with a complete FACTS Rating of 68.8%, adopted by Gemini 2.5 Professional (62.1%) and OpenAI’s GPT-5 (61.8%).Nevertheless, a more in-depth have a look at the information reveals the place the actual battlegrounds are for engineering groups.

Information sourced from the FACTS Workforce launch notes.

For Builders: The “Search” vs. “Parametric” Hole

For builders constructing RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Technology) programs, the Search Benchmark is probably the most essential metric.

The information exhibits an enormous discrepancy between a mannequin’s potential to “know” issues (Parametric) and its potential to “discover” issues (Search). For example, Gemini 3 Professional scores a excessive 83.8% on Search duties however solely 76.4% on Parametric duties.

This validates the present enterprise structure commonplace: don’t depend on a mannequin’s inside reminiscence for essential info.

If you’re constructing an inside data bot, the FACTS outcomes recommend that hooking your mannequin as much as a search software or vector database is just not non-obligatory—it’s the solely technique to push accuracy towards acceptable manufacturing ranges.

The Multimodal Warning

Essentially the most alarming knowledge level for product managers is the efficiency on Multimodal duties. The scores listed here are universally low. Even the class chief, Gemini 2.5 Professional, solely hit 46.9% accuracy.

The benchmark duties included studying charts, deciphering diagrams, and figuring out objects in nature. With lower than 50% accuracy throughout the board, this means that Multimodal AI is just not but prepared for unsupervised knowledge extraction.

Backside line: In case your product roadmap entails having an AI routinely scrape knowledge from invoices or interpret monetary charts with out human-in-the-loop overview, you might be seemingly introducing important error charges into your pipeline.

Why This Issues for Your Stack

The FACTS Benchmark is prone to develop into an ordinary reference level for procurement. When evaluating fashions for enterprise use, technical leaders ought to look past the composite rating and drill into the particular sub-benchmark that matches their use case:

• Constructing a Buyer Help Bot? Take a look at the Grounding rating to make sure the bot sticks to your coverage paperwork. (Gemini 2.5 Professional really outscored Gemini 3 Professional right here, 74.2 vs 69.0).

• Constructing a Analysis Assistant? Prioritize Search scores.

• Constructing an Picture Evaluation Device? Proceed with excessive warning.

Because the FACTS staff famous of their launch, “All evaluated fashions achieved an total accuracy under 70%, leaving appreciable headroom for future progress.”For now, the message to the {industry} is evident: The fashions are getting smarter, however they are not but infallible. Design your programs with the belief that, roughly one-third of the time, the uncooked mannequin would possibly simply be incorrect.

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