AI Models' Potemkin Comprehension Problem

Research Shows How Large Language Models Fake Conceptual Mastery Rashmi Ramesh (rashmiramesh_) • July 9, 2025

A famous story about artificial intelligence involves a model being told to devise efficient methods for landing jet fighters onto aircraft carriers. As recounted by researcher Janell Shane, the model discovered "that if it applied a *huge* force, it would overflow the program's memory and would register instead as a very *small* force." The pilot was dead, "but, hey, perfect score."

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Humans developers thought the AI "understood" the primary goal was to land airplanes safely, not crash them. This gap between models and reality is so widespread that academics from MIT, Harvard and the University of Chicago are introducing the phrase "potemkin understanding" to characterize how large language models that excel at conceptual benchmarks can ...