[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"

[simondotau]

What part of this is nonsensical?

“I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?”

The goal is clearly stated in the very first sentence. A valid solution is already given in the second sentence. The third sentence only seems tricky because the answer is so painfully obvious that it feels like a trick.

[Maxion]

Where I live right now, there is no washing of cars as it's -5F. I can want as much as I like. If I'd go to the car wash, it'd be to say hi to Jimmy my friend who lives there.

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My car is a Lambo. I only hand wash it since it's worth a million USD. The car wash accross the street is automated. I won't stick my lambo in it. I'm going to the car wash to pick up my girlfriend who works there.

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I want to wash my car because it's dirty, but my friend is currently borrowing it. He asked me to come get my car as it's at the car wash.

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The original prompt is intentionally ambigous. There are multiple correct interpretations.

[polotics]

I disagree. It should I think answer with a simple clarifying question:

Where is the car that you want to wash?

[vineyardmike]

Why would you ask about walking if it wasn't a valid option?

You'd never ask a person this question with the hope of having a real and valid discussion.

Implicit in the question is the assumption that walking could be acceptable.

[abraxas]

And even then it would point to a heavy skew towards American culture with the implicit assumption that there must be multiple cars in the household

[simondotau]

Are you legally permitted to drive that vehicle? Is the car actually a 1:10th scale model? Have aliens just invaded earth?

Sorry, but that’s not how conversation works. The person explained the situation and asked a question; it’s entirely reasonable for the respondent to answer based on the facts provided. If every exchange required interrogating every premise, all discussion would collapse into an absurd rabbit hole. It’s like typing “2 + 2 =” into a calculator and, instead of displaying “4”, being asked the clarifying question, “What is your definition of 2?”

[emil-lp]

How is the question nonsensical? It's a perfectly valid question.

[dugidugout]

Because validity doesn't depend on meaning. Take the classic example: "What is north of the North Pole?". This is a valid phrasing of a question, but is meaningless without extra context about spherical geometry. The trick question in reference is similar in that its intended meaning is contained entirely in the LLM output.

[jatari]

I agree that it doesn't break any rules of the English language, that doesn't make it a valid question in everyday contexts though.

Ask a human that question randomly and see how they respond.

[tomjakubowski]

The question isn't nonsense, it just has an answer which is so obvious nobody would ever ask it organically.