So what should you do when an AI model makes a big mistake? I recommend correcting it as matter-of-factly as possible and trying to briskly move on. If you haven’t yet built up a lot of context in the conversation, it might be worth starting over entirely. The best approach - only offered by some AI tools - is to go back to the point in the conversation right before the mistake was made and head it off by updating your previous message.

In general, I think one underrated AI skill is developing a “theory of mind”3 for AI: a sense of how AI really works under the hood, and the kind of communication patterns that are a good and bad fit for it. Demanding that an AI apologise for its mistake is an example of poor theory of mind. There’s no sentient creature there to morally judge, it can’t feel bad, and it will make it more likely to make further mistakes.

Do not yell at the language model

This is an interesting insight and a valuable suggestion. Being able to call out errors without judgement is a valuable human skill too. Humanity will benefit if more people build up that skill with these LLM tools.

So, Rewind, Revise and Repeat. This is the mantra for the LLM tools of our age.