Probably should’ve just asked Wolfram Alpha

  • Deebster@programming.devEnglish
    422·
    2 years ago

    Google’s AI seems dumber than the rest, for example here’s Kagi answering the same (using Claude):


    edit: typoed question originally

    Perhaps Google’s tried to make it run too cheaply - Kagi’s one doesn’t run unless you ask for it, and as a paid product it’ll have different priorities.

    • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
      211·
      2 years ago

      There are two meanings being conflated here.

      “1/3 more” can mean “+ 1/3” or "* (1 + 1/3)“.

      So “1/3 more than 1/3” could be 2/3 or 4/9, but not 1/2.

      Instead 1/2 is 1/2 more than 1/3, not 1/3 more. That’s the meme I’ve seen go around recently.

      • Deebster@programming.devEnglish
        6·
        2 years ago

        Yes, and the Google AI response is correct (and quite clear) in what it says. edit: Thanks Batman. I mean that Google’s understanding of the question is logical (although still the maths is wrong as you say (now I’ve re-read you)) and its answer explained the angle it was answering from.

        However, I think the reasonable assumption for the intention behind the question is relative to a whole. I had third of a pizza, and now I have an extra sixth of a pizza. It’s subtle, but that’s the kind of thing AI falls down on.

        • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
          4·
          2 years ago

          I agree with your assessment regarding the intention of the phrase. We’re back at the silly arithmetic meme that hinges on not grouping terms explicitly and watching people yell at each other in the mistaken belief that there’s one authoritative interpretation of an ambiguous string of symbols.

          Still, the actual mistake remains. Why an extra 1/6 of the pizza? 1/3 of 1/3 is 1/9, not 1/6. That’s 1/2 of 1/3.

          • Deebster@programming.devEnglish
            3·
            2 years ago

            I thought we were finally agreeing fully! My understanding of the question is “what is the difference between a third (of a pizza, say) and a half?”

            1/2 - 1/3 = 1/6
            1/2 = 1/3 + 1/6
            a half is one sixth more than a third.

            btw, I fixed my Kagi screenshot since I’d missed a word from the question (reading comprehension’s clearly not my strong point today)

        • BatmanAoD@programming.dev
          2·
          2 years ago

          You are saying “yes” to a comment explaining why the Google AI response cannot possibly be correct, so what do you mean “and [it’s] correct”?

          • Deebster@programming.devEnglish
            3·
            2 years ago

            Ah, you’re right - I misunderstood jbrain’s point to just be about the “relative to the original” understanding. Guess I’m no smarter than Google’s AI.

      • stetech@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 years ago

        This is why Kagi is a great company.

        Nobody is getting LLM functionality shoved in their faces unless they wanted to.

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
      2·
      2 years ago

      this is why i like the DDG approach: don’t have the LLM try to reason, just have it pull information from sources you’ve checked aren’t completely insane, and summarize an answer from there.

  • elbucho@lemmy.worldEnglish
    211·
    2 years ago

    This is very clearly an example of bad AI, but maybe it was trying (and failing) to convey this?

    Basically, 1/3 + 1/9 + 1/27 + 1/81 + … + 1/3^n = 1/2.

    Probably not. But maybe.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      171·
      2 years ago

      I’m thinking it’s trying to say:

      (2/6) + (1/6) = (3/6) = (4/6) - (1/6)

      But either in “colloquial English for those who want to give other people aneurysms” or “colloquial English for those trying to sound smarter but aren’t”

      Basically that the degree of difference between a half and a third is the same degree of difference between a half and two thirds- and that degree of difference is “one part”.

    • kahnclusions@programming.dev
      6·
      2 years ago

      Unfortunately a shockingly large number of people don’t get this… including my old boss who was running an AI-based startup 💀

  • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
    4·
    2 years ago

    Oh. I just noticed the extraneous word in the search, which might be throwing off the LLM trying to understand it.

    • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      2 years ago

      I asked ChatGPT these questions and got sensible answers.

      How much more is one half than one third?

      [subtraction answer: 1/6 more]

      That’s one possibility, but what about the other way to interpret that question?

      [ratio answer, but expressed as “1.5 times as much” rather than “1/2 more”]

  • notfromhere@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 years ago

    I read it as “A third of a third plus a third is a half.” Which makes sense to me. What an I missing?

  • Xavienth@lemmygrad.mlBanned
    42·
    2 years ago

    I don’t even look at the AI result. I scroll right past. That’s the thing, if it’s bullshit 50% of the time, and you can’t always tell like you can here, then it’s bullshit 100% of the time, and it’s useless, just taking up screen real estate.