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Paperium
Paperium

Posted on • Originally published at paperium.net

Large Language Models Do NOT Really Know What They Don't Know

Do AI Chatbots Really Know When They're Wrong?

Ever wondered if a chatbot can tell you when it’s guessing? A new study shows that big AI language models, the same tech behind ChatGPT, don’t actually know when they’re wrong.
Researchers peeked inside the AI’s “brain” and saw that when the model tries to answer a factual question, it uses the same memory pathways whether the answer is correct or a made‑up one.
It’s like a student who copies the same notes for both a right answer and a bluff—the teacher can’t tell the difference.
Only when the AI’s mistake is completely unrelated to the topic does its internal pattern form a separate “cluster,” making the error easier to spot.
This means the AI’s confidence scores aren’t a reliable guide to truth.
The takeaway? While these models are amazing at mimicking knowledge, they still can’t truly judge their own certainty, so we must stay critical and double‑check the facts they give us.

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Large Language Models Do NOT Really Know What They Don't Know

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