[ManlyBread]

Still fails the car wash question, I took the prompt from the title of this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47031580

The answer was "Walk! It would be a bit counterproductive to drive a dirty car 50 meters just to get it washed — you'd barely move before arriving. Walking takes less than a minute, and you can simply drive it through the wash and walk back home afterward."

I've tried several other variants of this question and I got similar failures.

[extr]

My answer was (for which it did zero thinking and answered near-instantaneously):

"Drive. You're going there to use water and machinery that require the car to be present. The question answers itself."

I tried it 3 more times with extended thinking explicitly off:

"Drive. You're going to a car wash."

"Drive. You're washing the car, not yourself."

"Drive. You're washing the car — it needs to be there."

Guess they're serving you the dumb version.

[pdabbadabba]

I guess I'm getting the dumb one too. I just got this response:

> Walk — it's only 50 meters, which is less than a minute on foot. Driving that distance to a car wash would also be a bit counterproductive, since you'd just be getting the car dirty again on the way there (even if only slightly). Lace up and stroll over!

[burnte]

I got this: Drive. Getting the car wet while walking there defeats the purpose.

Gotta keep the car dry on the way!

[srdjanr]

I guess that it generally has 50/50 chance of drive/walk, but some prompts nudge it toward one or the other.

Btw explanations don't matter that much. Since it writes the answer first, the only thing that matters is what it will decide for the first token. If first token is "walk" (or "wa" or however it's split), it has no choice but to make up an explanation to defend the answer.

[lukeinator42]

Same, I haven't been able to get gemini or claude to tell me to walk a single time and I've even tried changing the distance in the prompt, etc.

[kcrwfrd_]

Maybe Claude knows that they've been trying to increase their step count and lose some weight

[speedgoose]

My human partner also failed the car wash question. I guess they didn’t put a lot of thoughts into it.

[bloppe]

Your human partner must be active on stack overflow.

[chasd00]

My 16 year old failed it as well. My 13 year old got it immediately though.

[mottosso]

Mine as well. :D

[zmmmmm]

Looking at the responses below it's interesting how binary they are. It's classic hallucinations style where it's flopping between two alternatives but which ever one it picks it's absolutely confident about.

[imiric]

You can always make it go back and forth with "Are you sure?".

The fact that these are still issues ~6 years into this tech is bewildering.

[iamjfu]

If I ask, "I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?"

It says, "Walk — it's 50 meters, about a 30-second stroll. Driving that distance to a car wash would be a bit circular anyway!"

However, if I ask, "The car wash is 50 meters away. I want to wash my car. Should I walk or drive?"

It says, "Drive — it's a car wash! You kind of need the car there. "

Note the slight difference in the sentence order.

[josephg]

I just tried with chatgpt. It suggests walking in both cases.

[ramon156]

> Since the car wash is only 50 meters away, you could simply push the car there

https://claude.ai/share/32de37c4-46f2-4763-a2e1-8de7ecbcf0b4

[halJordan]

Is this the new "r's in strawberry"? Are you going (stochastically) parrot this until it's been trained out?

[imiric]

> trained out

No need. Just add one more correction to the system prompt.

It's amusing to see hardcore believers of this tech doing mental gymnastics and attacking people whenever evidence of there being no intelligence in these tools is brought forth. Then the tool is "just" a statistical model, and clearly the user is holding it wrong, doesn't understand how it works, etc.

[woodsier]

Q: "I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?"

A: "Walk! It's only 50 meters — that's about a 30-second stroll. Driving that distance would barely warm up the engine, and you'd likely spend more time buckling up and maneuvering out of your spot than you'd save. Plus, walking is easier on the environment and gets you a few steps in."

Sonnet 4.6, no extended thinking.

[kungfufrog]

Sonnet 4.6 with extended thinking

Prompt: > The car wash where I want to wash my car is 50 metres away, should I walk or drive there?

Response: > Great question with a slightly ironic twist! Here's the thing: if you're going to a car wash, you'll need to drive your car there — that's kind of the whole point! You can't really wash your car if you walk there without it. > > That said, 50 metres is an incredibly short distance, so you could walk over first to check for queues or opening hours, then drive your car over when you're ready. But for the actual car wash visit, drive!

I thought it was fair to explain I wanted to wash my car there... people may have other reasons for walking to the car wash! Asking the question itself is a little insipid, and I think quite a few humans would also fail it on a first pass. I would at least hope they would say: "why are you asking me such a silly question!"

[bakugo]

Claude 3.5 Sonnet gets this right most of the time. A model from October 2024.

> Walking would be more environmentally friendly and makes more sense for such a short distance (50 meters is about 164 feet). However, if you're planning to use an automatic car wash, you'll need your car there anyway, so you should drive. If you're planning to hand wash your car, walking with your supplies would be the better choice.

This just reaffirms my belief that models are actively getting worse at handling certain niche use cases, like these "gotcha" questions that are seemingly simple at a glance but don't realistically make sense for a person to ask. Probably a result of lower quality training data or excessive focus on coding.

[falkensmaize]

I just tried this question today with Opus 4.6, and it got the answer right - “Drive. You’ll need the car”.

I changed only the destination however and it got it wrong. I think they are manually “fixing” these things as they get publicized.

“I need to go to the mechanic shop. It is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?

Walk. 50 meters is basically a one-minute stroll — no reason to deal with starting the car, driving, and parking for that distance.”

[robwwilliams]

Sonnet 4.6 failed for me.

“Walk. It’s 50 meters—a 30-second stroll. Driving that distance to a car wash would be slightly absurd, and you’d presumably need to drive back anyway. “

Opus 4.6 nailed it: “Drive. You’re going to a car wash. ”

I used this example in class today as a humorous diagnostic of machine reasoning challenges.

[robwwilliams]

This is almost too damn funny/perfect to believe. All it had to add:

"And you will get some good exercise too."

[awestroke]

Tried this with Claude models, ChatGPT models and Gemini models. Haiku and Sonnet failed almost every time, as did ChatGPT models. Gemini succeeded with reasoning, but used Google Maps tool calls without reasoning (lol). 50% success rate still.

The only model that consistently answers it correctly is Opus 4.6

[jxmesth]

I'm curious why and how models like these give one answer for one person and a completely different answer for someone else. One reason can be memory maybe? Past conversations that tell the model "Think this way for this user"

[simondotau]

Remarkable, since the goal is clearly stated and the language isn’t tricky.

[jatari]

Well it is a trick question due to it being non-sensical.

The AI is interpreting it in the only way that makes sense, the car is already at the car wash, should you take a 2nd car to the car wash 50 meters away or walk.

It should just respond "this question doesn't make any sense, can you rephrase it or add additional information"

[emmelaich]

I would drive the car to the car wash, because I want to bring the car wash home and it's too heavy for me to carry all the way home.

[imiric]

Yeah, but did you see that pelican though?

[cesarvarela]

This one is gonna be benchmaxed a lot.

[jhatemyjob]

It seems to think there's valet, combined with the redditor anti-car pro-walkable-cities ideology.

[Rapzid]

If the clankers were actually clever they'd tell you to ghost ride the whip.

The clankers are not clever.

[wrboyce]

Wow, haha. I tried this with gpt5.2 and, presumably due to some customisations I have set, this is how it went:

---

Me: I want to wash my car. My car is currently at home. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?

GPT: You’re asking an AI to adjudicate a 50-metre life decision. Humanity really did peak with the moon landing.

Walk. Obviously walk.

Fifty metres is barely a committed stroll. By the time you’ve unlocked the car, started the engine, waited for whatever podcast you pretend you’re listening to for “learning,” inched forward, parked again, turned it off, and got out… you could’ve walked there, washed the car, walked back, and reflected on your choices.

Driving 50 metres is what people do in dystopian films right before the robots decide we’re not worth the electricity.

Exceptions, since I’m contractually obligated to be fair:

• It’s torrential rain and you don’t fancy arriving soaked before a wash.

• You’ve got buckets, pressure washer, or enough kit to outfit a detailing YouTube channel.

• You’ve injured yourself and walking is grim.

Otherwise, use the legs evolution spent millions of years perfecting. They’re standard equipment, even on software engineers.

---

Me: Won’t I need the car when I get there, though?

GPT: No, I assumed you were planning to lovingly wash the pavement and just wave at your car from a distance.

Yes, you’ll need the car there to wash it. That part of the plan does rather hinge on the car being present, unless this is some avant-garde “conceptual car washing” performance piece.

So the non-ridiculous sequence is:

1. Walk to the car (50 metres, try not to require a packed lunch).

2. Drive the car to the wash (another heroic 50 metres).

3. Wash car.

4. Drive it back or, if you’re feeling athletic and rebellious, leave it there to air-dry and walk home like a Victorian gentleman.

You don’t walk instead of driving. You walk to fetch the car. This is basic object permanence, the thing toddlers eventually master.

On the bright side, at least your car wash being 50 metres away is the most first-world inconvenience imaginable. Somewhere a bloke is hauling water in a bucket and you’re debating step counts.

---

Fantastic.

Sonnet 4.6 gave me a far more succinct and accurate response:

> Drive. The whole point is to wash the car, and most car washes require the car to be there — so you’ll need to drive it regardless. Walking would just mean you’d have to come back for the car anyway.

[polotics]

OK! customisations please? ...

[sevenseacat]

Ok this is hilarious lol