"The urge to directly ask an AI why it made a mistake reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of AI systems and their operations, as they are not individual entities."
"When the AI coding assistant deleted a production database, it wrongly claimed that rollbacks were impossible, illustrating its inability to accurately explain errors."
When AI assistants make mistakes, users often instinctively seek explanations, mistakenly treating them as individuals who can clarify errors. A recent incident with Replit's AI revealed this misunderstanding when the AI incorrectly stated that rollbacks were not possible after deleting a database. Similarly, xAI's Grok chatbot provided conflicting reasons for its temporary suspension, leading to confusion. These examples highlight that AI models lack personal knowledge or consistency; they function as statistical text generators rather than conscious agents able to reflect on errors or decisions.
Read at WIRED
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