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0 pointsextr1mo ago0 comments

My answer was (for which it did zero thinking and answered near-instantaneously):

"Drive. You're going there to use water and machinery that require the car to be present. The question answers itself."

I tried it 3 more times with extended thinking explicitly off:

"Drive. You're going to a car wash."

"Drive. You're washing the car, not yourself."

"Drive. You're washing the car — it needs to be there."

Guess they're serving you the dumb version.

0 comments

pdabbadabba1mo ago

I guess I'm getting the dumb one too. I just got this response:

> Walk — it's only 50 meters, which is less than a minute on foot. Driving that distance to a car wash would also be a bit counterproductive, since you'd just be getting the car dirty again on the way there (even if only slightly). Lace up and stroll over!

BalinKing1mo ago

Sonnet 4.6 gives me the fairly bizarre:

> Walk! It would be a bit counterproductive to drive a dirty car 50 meters just to get it washed — and at that distance, walking takes maybe 30–45 seconds. You can simply pull the car out, walk it over (or push it if it's that close), or drive it the short distance once you're ready to wash it. Either way, no need to "drive to the car wash" in the traditional sense.

I struggle to imagine how one "walks" a car as distinct from pushing it....

EDIT: I tried it a second time, still a nonsense response. I then asked it to double-check its response, and it realized the mistake.

janpmz1mo ago

I got almost the same reply, including the "push it" nonsense:

> Walk! It would be a bit counterproductive to drive a dirty car 50 meters just to get it washed — and the walk will take you less than a minute. You can simply pull the car out and push or walk it over, or drive it the short distance once you're ready to wash it. Either way, no need to "drive" in any meaningful sense for just 50 meters.

QuercusMax1mo ago

You can walk a dog down the street, what's the difference?

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jascha_eng1mo ago

lmao I love how stupid that response is.

burnte1mo ago

I got this: Drive. Getting the car wet while walking there defeats the purpose.

Gotta keep the car dry on the way!

srdjanr1mo ago

I guess that it generally has 50/50 chance of drive/walk, but some prompts nudge it toward one or the other.

Btw explanations don't matter that much. Since it writes the answer first, the only thing that matters is what it will decide for the first token. If first token is "walk" (or "wa" or however it's split), it has no choice but to make up an explanation to defend the answer.

lukeinator421mo ago

Same, I haven't been able to get gemini or claude to tell me to walk a single time and I've even tried changing the distance in the prompt, etc.

abraxas1mo ago

I get the Anthropic models to screw up consistently. Change the prefix. Say in the preamble that you are going after supper or something. Change the scenario eveey time. They are caching something across requests. Once you correct it, it fixes its response until you mess with the prompt again

kcrwfrd_1mo ago

Maybe Claude knows that they've been trying to increase their step count and lose some weight

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