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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2648 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 22, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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How do I stop LLMs from lying to me?

Every single AI out there, without fail, produces completely different and contradictory interpretations of literally the exact same data just because I phrased the prompt slightly differently. Adding or removing a single word, or changing the order of sentence, or making a spelling mistake will give you a different output.

This is frustrating. I cannot believe or trust anything these things say. I know that it can see the data. And it obviously can "correctly" analyze the data, as well. But this requires a nudge. Why? Why does the LLM react to my nudge and not the actual data?

Is there any way for me to verify that I'm actually getting an honest response from an LLM, and that it's not just telegraphing back whatever I already implied when prompting it?

I always ask for online sources, then check

EDIT: I see you’re asking it to analyze and interpret data. Maybe ask for values or quotes that verify its analysis, or just ask for “proof” and see what it generates

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