Try this one: A right-angled triangle has base length 10 and height 6 measured from the hypotenuse to the opposite apex (the base is the hypotenuse). What's the area of the triangle?
ChatGPT says: For any triangle (right-angled or not), the area is: Area = 1/2 base × height So the answer is 10 × 6 / 2 = 30. Wrong! It's a nasty catch. It goes awry at the very first statement: the expression given is true for some triangles but not all, and in particular not this one. In fact it's not even a triangle so the area is undefined: that's the correct answer. It's impossible for the height to be more than 5 (draw the circumscribing circle). It fell into the trap of unthinking application of a standard formula fetched from the web without determining first whether it applies to the situation (and I imagine most humans will say 30 too without thinking!). This was a question in a job interview at Google. -- Ian On Sun, 25 Jan 2026, 15:31 Goldman, Adrian, < [email protected]> wrote: > I think it really depends on use case. It’s extremely good at removing > english language mistakes, for instance. But at heart it’s a statistical > model, right? What word is likely to follow ‘what’ in a sentence about > ChatGPT, for instance. Like my last. The likelihood of painterly is very > close to zero, but is, word, token have all got high probabilities. So for > things it should be good at - it really is good. > > That doesn’t include facts: the intersection of words with the world. > > chatgpt5 does facts slightly better than chatgpt2. I remember asking it > for sonnets and 2 hadn’t got a concept of sonnet - but 3+ do. You’ll get 14 > lines in one of the classic sonnet rhyme patterns in iambic pentameter. > > But don’t worry it’s going to take over the world. Sam Altman says so. > > [image: 4992.jpg] > > Sam Altman’s make-or-break year: can the OpenAI CEO cash in his bet on the > future? > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jan/25/sam-altman-openai> > theguardian.com > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jan/25/sam-altman-openai> > > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jan/25/sam-altman-openai> > > You know the real problem with the enshitification of the internet is > legal liability. If meta, OpenAI, Google, TikTok, x etc had the same legal > liabilities as publishers, they would stop producing and distributing crap > because otherwise they would be sued out of existence. > > Adrian > Sent from my iPhone > > On 25 Jan 2026, at 16:24, Harry Powell < > [email protected]> wrote: > > I read this yesterday - > > > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/24/latest-chatgpt-model-uses-elon-musks-grokipedia-as-source-tests-reveal > > And this (and similar articles) a while back - > > https://grokipediawiki.com/analysis/plagiarism-scandal-investigation/ > > These don’t inspire me to use either. > > Harry > > On 25 Jan 2026, at 13:17, Hughes, Jon < > [email protected]> wrote: > > hi, > there has been much talk of using AI to write code for us and of it making > the world better. people in this group have their own opinions regarding > alphafold, for example, but at a much simpler level, i just asked chatGTP > something about electrical power generation: his/her/their answer finally > included, ""Interpretation per joule: 4–12 €cents per kWh equals 4–12 × > 10⁻⁶ € per joule, since 1 kWh = 3.6 MJ". well, we all make mistakes, right?! > cheers, > jon > > > ######################################################################## > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a > mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are > available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ > > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
