AI Reasoning: its "logic" is often just the answer backwards.

You know how an AI sometimes breaks down a problem for you, explaining each step with flawless logic? You feel a bit like a genius, even if it did all the heavy lifting. Well, there's a trick to it, and it's not the nicest one.

Yes, often it is. What looks like a logical chain of thought, a true step-by-step "reasoning" process, is actually more like a script written after the fact. The AI first figures out the final answer, then invents all the intermediate steps to justify it. It's a bit like cheating on a math test, but with more flair.

A study published on dev.to by DJ29 highlighted that many AI "reasoning" processes are actually the answer written backwards. It's not truly "thinking" sequentially like we do, but simulating a process that leads to an already known solution. Doesn't sound very honest, does it?

AI works by predicting the next word in a sequence. When you ask it to solve a problem, it often "guesses" the final answer with a very high probability. Once it has that solution in mind, its job is to generate the tokens (words or parts of words) that precede it, building a convincing narrative.

Imagine a student who peeks at the answer key at the back of the book, then, to avoid getting caught, writes down all the calculations to arrive there. That's pretty much what AI does. It's not a process of discovery, but of reverse-engineering. Would you trust a doctor who treats you that way?

The problem is we tend to blindly trust these "explanations." If an AI shows us a chain of logical reasoning, we're inclined to believe it genuinely understood the problem and its solution is sound. But if the logic is just a tailor-made suit for the answer, then that trust is misplaced.

This means we might overestimate the actual comprehension and problem-solving capabilities of artificial intelligence. If the AI makes a mistake, its "explanation" could still seem plausible, making it hard to spot the error. It's like a magician explaining a trick: it sounds logical, but it's just a well-orchestrated illusion.