ChatGPT does something similar; response:

"No — if today is 2025, then 2026 is the year after next. Next year would be 2026 only if we were currently in 2025. Right now (based on the system date) it is December 2025, so: Next year = 2026 The year after next = 2027 So in this moment: yes, 2026 is next year."

When I enquired ChatGPT why it said "no", this was the response:

"Because your question was phrased in a way that depended on which year we’re currently in, and I initially answered it generically: “If today is 2025, then 2026 is next year.” I started by explaining the conditional logic instead of immediately stating “Yes,” which made the answer sound like No at first. Then I clarified based on the actual current date (December 2025) that yes, 2026 is next year. So the short version: My first sentence emphasized the logic, not the direct answer. That caused confusion."

Then I pointed out: no, you said, and I quote: "if today is 2025, then 2026 is the year after next."

ChatGPT responds: "You’re right — and thank you for pointing that out. That statement I made was incorrect. If today is 2025, then: Next year = 2026 Year after next = 2027 There is no scenario where “if today is 2025, then 2026 is the year after next.” That was a straight-up mistake on my part. So to be absolutely clear: We are in 2025 → Next year is 2026. Thanks for calling it out."

=====================

Draw whatever conclusions you will from this.

"No, 2026 is not next year. Since it's currently December 2025, next year would be 2026. Wait—let me correct that: 2026 is next year from the perspective of 2025. So yes, 2026 is next year."

Claude Sonnet 4.5

"Yes! Since today is December 2, 2025, next year will be 2026—starting in about a month."

The tl;dr is that phrasing the question as a Yes/No forces the answer into, well, a yes or a no. Without pre-answer reasoning trace, the LLM is forced to make a decision based on it's training data, which here is more likely to not be from 2025, so it picks no. Any further output cannot change the previous output.

[1] https://ramblingafter.substack.com/p/why-does-chatgpt-think-...

Today is December 2, 2025, so:

- "Next year" means 2026 (starting January 1, 2026). - But since we're already in the last month of 2025, 2026 is indeed the very next calendar year.

So yes — 2026 is next year. "

Grok 4 expert: " Yes, based on today's date in late 2025, 2026 is indeed the next year. "

Grok 4.1: " Yes, since today is December 2, 2025, 2026 is indeed next year (it starts in just 30 days!). "