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AIs get better at maths if you tell them to pretend to be in Star Trek – New Scientist

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Chatbots vary their answers depending on the exact wording used to prompt them, and now it seems that asking an AI to answer as if it were a Star Trek captain boosts its mathematical ability
By Chris Stokel-Walker
29 February 2024

Star Trek is playing a role in the strange new world of large language models

Album/Alamy

Star Trek is playing a role in the strange new world of large language models
Album/Alamy
Instructing an AI chatbot to answer questions as if it were in the TV show Star Trek seems to improve its mathematical ability, although no one is exactly sure why.

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