A knowledge attribution and answer validation platform for generative AI output, comprising a knowledge database, a knowledge attribution engine, and an image repository. The knowledge database contains a plurality of knowledge elements produced via an ingestion process performed by the platform, each corresponding to a page of a source document. Each knowledge element has a knowledge validation image of its corresponding page which is stored within the image repository, and is linked to the image via attribution metadata. The knowledge attribution engine receives a user query, searches the knowledge database for knowledge elements relevant to the user query, and generates a response using knowledge derived from one of the source documents. The platform retains the attribution metadata for all knowledge elements used to generate the response, and retrieves and displays the corresponding knowledge validation images to provide both visual proof of answer and direct source attribution for the generated response.