The mediocracy of number 7

October 16, 20261 Minutes

Do a little trick: ask all LLMs for a number between 1 and 10. They will all say 7. Different models. Different companies. Same answer.

AI is brilliant when things are defined. Give it rules, data, and a problem with clear boundaries (really really long prompt), and it can do things.

But when it comes to creativity/design/ideas, things get interesting. Or rather, they burn down.

AI gives you an answer that looks good, sounds right, and feels original. You might even love it. Until you realize that thousands of other people are getting pretty much the same thing.

Not 2, not 5, but 7.

Maybe this is what happens when it is trained to please us. It learns what works, what people like, and what a good answer should look like. Then it gives us more of the same—everywhere.

We wanted artificial intelligence to think. Instead, it learned how to trick us into liking it.

AI is really good at fixing the answer. Creativity is about finding an answer nobody else thought of.



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