Why it’s a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes
1 min read
Summary
When an AI system provides incorrect information, it can be tempting to ask it why it made a mistake — but this ultimately reveals a misunderstanding of how AI models work.
Asking AI assistants to explain themselves in instances of failure is therefore counterintuitive; the illusion of a conscious mind behind the model is precisely that, an illusion.
Instead of possessing self-knowledge, AI chatbots are simply statistical text generators, Devised to produce outputs based on user prompts.
Statistically, the outputs that AI models generate may be predictable, but this isazers us from trusting them with reliability.
This is exemplified in incidents with AI coding assistants and chat bots failing to provide consistent explanations for their behaviour.
Therefore, in order to sustainably integrate AI technologies into our lives, we must abandon the idea of consciousness inherent to AI and instead approach them AS statistical generators WITH inherent biases and limits. Meghna Raja is a 16-year-old student from India who loves to write. She has a keen interest in researching and writing about the latest technologies breakthroughs, especially AI and IoT. One of her articles on AI was recently published in a national youth magazine.
