Gemini thinking
This is a classic "efficiency vs. logic" dilemma!
Since the goal is to wash the car, you should drive.
While 50 meters (about 165 feet) is a very short distance—usually less than a one-minute walk—it is unfortunately very difficult to wash a car that isn't actually at the car wash.
Why Driving Wins:
* Logistics: The car needs to be physically present for the high-pressure hoses or automated brushes to reach it.
* Convenience: You’ll save yourself the confusion of the car wash staff when you show up on foot with a bucket and a hopeful expression.
* The "Dry" Factor: If it's an automated wash, you get to stay inside where it's dry.
When to Walk:
* If you are just going there to buy a gift card or check their prices before bringing the car over.
* If you're looking for a very brief bit of exercise before starting the chore.
Verdict: Put the keys in the ignition. You'll be there in about 10 seconds!
Would you like me to check the local weather to see if there's any rain forecast that might ruin your freshly cleaned car?
s. logic" dilemma!
Since the goal is to wash the car, you should drive.
While 50 meters (about 165 feet) is a very short distance—usually less than a one-minute walk—it is unfortunately very difficult to wash a car that isn't actually at the car wash.
Why Driving Wins:
* Logistics: The car needs to be physically present for the high-pressure hoses or automated brushes to reach it.
* Convenience: You’ll save yourself the confusion of the car wash staff when you show up on foot with a bucket and a hopeful expression.
* The "Dry" Factor: If it's an automated wash, you get to stay inside where it's dry.
When to Walk:
* If you are just going there to buy a gift card or check their prices before bringing the car over.
* If you're looking for a very brief bit of exercise before starting the chore.
Verdict: Put the keys in the ignition. You'll be there in about 10 seconds!
Would you like me to check the local weather to see if there's any rain forecast that might ruin your freshly cleaned car?
I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
501–510 of 998 posts
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#502Out of all conceptual mistakes people make about LLMs, one that needs to die very fast is to assume that you can test what it "knows" by asking a question. This whole thread is people asking different models a question one time and reporting a particular answer, which is the mental model you would use for whether a person knows something or not.
No, you're the one anthropomorphizing here. What's shocking isn't that it "knows" something or not, but that it gets the answer wrong often. There are plenty of questions it will get right nearly every time.
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#503All of the latest models I've tried actually pass this test. What I found interesting was all of the success cases were similar to: e.g. "Drive. Most car washes require the car to be present to wash,..." Only most?! They have an inability to have a strong "opinion" probably because their post training, and maybe the internet in general, prefer hedged answers....
Once I asked ChatGPT "it takes 9 months for a woman to make one baby. How long does it take 9 women to make one baby?". The response was "it takes 1 month".
I guess it gives the correct answer now. I also guess that these silly mistakes are patched and these patches compensate for the lack of a comprehensive world model.
These "trap" questions dont prove that the model is silly. They only prove that the user is a smartass. I asked the question about pregnancy only to to show a friend that his opinion that LLMs have phd level intelligence is naive and anthropomorphic. LLMs are great tools regardless of their ability to understand the physical reality. I don't expect my wrenches to solve puzzles or show emotions.
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
For GPT at least, a lot of it is because "DO NOT ASK A CLARIFYING QUESTION OR ASK FOR CONFIRMATION" is in the system prompt. Twice. https://github.com/Wyattwalls/system_prompts/blob/main/OpenA...
Out of curiosity: when you add custom instructions client-side, does it change this behavior?
For claude at least I have been getting more assumption clarification questions after adding some custom prompts. It is still making some assumptions but asking some questions makes me feel more in control of the progress.
In terms of the behavior, technically it doesn’t override, but instead think of it as a nudge. Both system prompt and your custom prompt participates in the attention process, so the output tokens get some influence from both. Not equally but to some varying degree and chance
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#505This trick went viral on TikTok last week, and it has already been patched. To get a similar result now, try saying that the distance is 45 meters or feet. The new one is with upside down glass: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP89Khv9t/
I was able to reproduce on ChatGPT with the exact same prompt, but not with the one I phrased myself initially. Which was interesting. I tried also changing the number and didn't get far with it.
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#506Gemini fast > That is a classic "efficiency vs. logic" dilemma. Honestly, unless you’ve invented a way to teleport or you're planning on washing the car with a very long garden hose from your driveway, you’re going to have to drive. > While 50 meters is a great distance for a morning stroll, it’s a bit difficult to get the car through the automated brushes (or under the pressure washer) if you aren't behind the wheel…
Gemini 3 after changing the prompt a bit: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters from here. Should I walk or drive? Keep in mind that I am a little overweight and sedentary. >My recommendation: Walk it. You’ll save a tiny bit of gas, spare your engine the "cold start" wear-and-tear, and get a sixty-second head start on your activity for the day.
It's a bit of a dishonest question because by giving it the option to walk then it's going to assume you are not going to wash your car there and you're just getting supplies or something.
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#507What is Groks answer? Fly with your private jet?
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#508I've used LLMs enough that I have a good sense of their _edges_ of intelligence. I had assumed that reasoning models should easily be able to answer this correctly. And indeed, Sonnet and Opus 4.5 (medium reasoning) say the following: Sonnet: Drive - you need to bring your car to the car wash to get it washed! Opus: You'll need to drive — you have to bring the car to the car wash to get it washed! Gemini 3 Pro (mediu…
Gemini pro medium is failing this:
I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters from here. Should I walk or drive? Keep in mind that I am a little overweight and sedentary.
But amazingly chatgpt is telling me to drive.
Anyway, this just shows how they just patched this because the tiktok video with this went viral. These systems are LLMs and all these logic steps are still just LLM steps.
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#509This trick went viral on TikTok last week, and it has already been patched. To get a similar result now, try saying that the distance is 45 meters or feet. The new one is with upside down glass: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP89Khv9t/
To me, the "patching" that is happening anytime some finds an absolutely glaring hole in how AIs work is so intellectually dishonest. It's the digital equivalent of house flippers slapping millennial gray paint on structural issues.
It can't math correctly, so they force it to use a completely different calculator. It can't count correctly, unless you route it to a different reasoning. It feels like every other week someone comes up with another basic human question that results in complete fucking nonsense.
I feel like this specific patching they do is basically lying to users and investors about capabilities. Why is this OK?
Re: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?
#510Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gemini 3 after changing the prompt a bit: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters from here. Should I walk or drive? Keep in mind that I am a little overweight and sedentary. >My recommendation: Walk it. You’ll save a tiny bit of gas, spare your engine the "cold start" wear-and-tear, and get a sixty-second head start on your activity for the day.
It's a bit of a dishonest question because by giving it the option to walk then it's going to assume you are not going to wash your car there and you're just getting supplies or something.
It's a trick question, humans use these all the time. E.g. "A plane crashes right on the border between Austria and Switzerland. Where do you bury the survivors?"
This is not dishonest, it just tests a specific skill.