www.lesswrong.com/posts/c4LYmzEC6cFQzrDZz/probing-codi-s-latent-reasoning-chain-...
2 corrections found
Answer = 10
The arithmetic answer to this prompt is 24, not 10.
Full reasoning
This prompt’s total is 24.
- Start with 3 members.
- Recruit 5 new members, giving 8 current members.
- Then each current member recruits 2 additional people, so the team gains 8 × 2 = 16 more people.
- Total people now: 8 + 16 = 24.
The LessWrong post this article cites uses the same prompt and explicitly works through these steps to reach 24 (3 + 5 = 8, 8 * 2 = 16, 8 + 16 = 24). So the statement Answer = 10 is contradicted by the cited source’s own reasoning for the identical question.
1 source
- Can we interpret latent reasoning using current mechanistic interpretability tools? - LessWrong
For example, given the prompt: "A team starts with 3 members..." we expect the reasoning should look like: Step1: 3 + 5 = 8 Step2: Step1 * 2 = 8 * 2 = 16 Step3: Step1 + Step2 = 8 + 16 = 24
the model stores information about the Answer 10
For this prompt, 10 is not the answer; the correct final total is 24.
Full reasoning
This statement identifies 10 as the answer for the prompt, but the prompt’s correct result is 24.
Using the arithmetic described in the prompt:
- Start with 3 members.
- Recruit 5 new members → 8 current members.
- Each of those 8 current members recruits 2 additional people → 16 more people.
- Total team size becomes 8 + 16 = 24.
The referenced LessWrong post uses this exact prompt and explicitly derives 24 as the final answer. So describing the latent state as storing information about “the Answer 10” misstates what the correct answer to the prompt actually is.
1 source
- Can we interpret latent reasoning using current mechanistic interpretability tools? - LessWrong
For example, given the prompt: "A team starts with 3 members..." we expect the reasoning should look like: Step1: 3 + 5 = 8 Step2: Step1 * 2 = 8 * 2 = 16 Step3: Step1 + Step2 = 8 + 16 = 24