When I then asked it if the image was really a parrot it told me that it was "more of a generic 'ASCII bird' (often used as a generic owl/parrot placeholder), not a true parrot."
A sitting penguin is certainly not a generic bird.
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(o)>
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\__/'---'\__/But yes I do believe these things understand. There is no other way for them to do what they're doing.
I wish it would either: grow a spine and double down (in the cases that it's right or partially right) or simply admit when something is beyond its capability instead of guessing or this like low-percentage Markov chain continuation.
tl;dr: The models are optimized against a test that evaluates incorrect answers just as well as no answer at all. Therefore, they guess when in doubt.
”When presented with questions or choices, treat them as genuine requests for analysis. Always evaluate trade-offs on their merits, never try to guess what answer the user wants.
Focus on: What does the evidence suggest? What are the trade-offs? What is truly optimal in this context given the user's ultimate goals?
Avoid: Pattern matching question phrasing to assumed preferences, reflexive agreement, reflexive disagreement, or hedging that avoids taking a position when one is warranted by the evidence.”
doener•4mo ago