Is AI getting dumber?

[FMH]

 

Is it just me or the results of Perplexity and ChatGPT seem less smart. Not being able to answer to some basic questions or do analysis where they need to get data from multiple sources before compiling the results. The context window seems to be smaller. 

I do not recall that being the case. I notice a distinct degradation. I wonder if they’re “throttling” their compute to save cost.

[+thexfile Subscriber²]

Study: AI Is Making Us All Dumber

Well, it’s official: An increased reliance on artificial intelligence has been linked to diminished critical thinking abilities, a new study has found.

https://tech.co/news/study-ai-making-us-dumber#:~:text=According to a new study,workout that helps people learn.&text=Well%2C it's official%3A An increased,a new study has found.

[FMH]

On 20/03/2025 at 05:02, thexfile said:

Study: AI Is Making Us All Dumber

Well, it’s official: An increased reliance on artificial intelligence has been linked to diminished critical thinking abilities, a new study has found.

https://tech.co/news/study-ai-making-us-dumber#:~:text=According to a new study,workout that helps people learn.&text=Well%2C it's official%3A An increased,a new study has found.

I definitely believe that. People around me who would work on solving problems for hours a day now just get it done in a few minutes. No brain cells burned. 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 19/03/2025 at 23:54, FMH said:

 

Is it just me or the results of Perplexity and ChatGPT seem less smart. Not being able to answer to some basic questions or do analysis where they need to get data from multiple sources before compiling the results. The context window seems to be smaller. 

I do not recall that being the case. I notice a distinct degradation. I wonder if they’re “throttling” their compute to save cost.

More that their results are being polluted by a rapidly increasing amount of stupid on the internet...

[FloatingFatMan]

On 20/03/2025 at 00:40, FMH said:

I definitely believe that. People around me who would work on solving problems for hours a day now just get it done in a few minutes. No brain cells burned. 

I work for a large international software company and though we develop a few systems ourselves, the USE of external AI systems such as ChatGPT has been banned throughout the entire company...

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

So, a few things I have an opinion on here:

Is AI getting dumber: The LLMs now have massively more data to build upon and there are certainly more hallucinations than previously.  As a consumer of GenAI, then I feel it's valid to feedback to it when it's wrong, as it learns from this.  This was demonstrated and proven.  

But people are (generally) not feeding back, so it is significantly hampered in it's ability to learn from what is a good and bad result.

Is AI making people dumber: Some yes, some no.  I use GenAI frequently, and it has not made me "dumber", if anything it has improved the rate at which I digest information.  But again, I use it "correctly" and understand it is a work in progress and both feedback and analyse it's output.

I liken it to when GPS devices started appearing on people's dashboards, the early TomTom devices - they begat poorer drives with respect to lane discipline.  I am from an era of looking at a map, planning my route, knowing where I am going before I get there, but when people just started relying on TomToms, they would change lane at the last second because the device hadn't prepped them to turn left at the roundabout until it hit the roundabout.

We use GenAI significantly within our workspace, trained on our own data, and restricted to our own uses.  We have a robust policy about the use of CoPilot and others (e.g. ChatGPT).  I'm currently looking into Agentic AI  to go beyond basic automation of jobs, but as ever - I always check what it is wanting to do with data, how it uses it, where it's taking it and what it outputs.

[neufuse Veteran]

basically getting dumber... initial models were trained on approved and collected sources of data...... then they add more and more to it and then start harvesting crap like reddit for info then it all just goes to heck because its trained not smart..... it doesn't know what is real or not just keeps telling itself what i see is real so start merging that into what i already know

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 20/03/2025 at 13:22, neufuse said:

basically getting dumber... initial models were trained on approved and collected sources of data...... then they add more and more to it and then start harvesting crap like reddit for info then it all just goes to heck because its trained not smart..... it doesn't know what is real or not just keeps telling itself what i see is real so start merging that into what i already know

EXACTLY.  Unless you feed back that the output is tosh, it basically says to itself "Yeah, that looks right" and ups it in its preferred responses.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 20/03/2025 at 13:26, Dick Montage said:

EXACTLY.  Unless you feed back that the output is tosh, it basically says to itself "Yeah, that looks right" and ups it in its preferred responses.

I remember a while ago I asked ChatGPT to write a simple bubble sort function in C# just as a simple test.  It didn't work.

 

So I did a quick search on Stack Overflow and found the EXACT same code, with the same bug.  So not only did it return buggy code, but it stole it from Stack Overflow without any kind of citation.  Double fail!

 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

I’ve had it write code which I then noticed was using a deprecated function. I pointed this out and it agreed and provided more up to date code.

So… why give me the first code? Idiot AI

[FloatingFatMan]

So, now AI's are "Hallucinating"....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kgydkr516o

 

[WallyMcClure]

On 19/03/2025 at 19:54, FMH said:

 

Is it just me or the results of Perplexity and ChatGPT seem less smart. Not being able to answer to some basic questions or do analysis where they need to get data from multiple sources before compiling the results. The context window seems to be smaller. 

I do not recall that being the case. I notice a distinct degradation. I wonder if they’re “throttling” their compute to save cost.

Absolutely AI is getting dumber.  They're using social media sites like facebook, instagram, and reddit.  Social media is proof that not everyone's opinion is important.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 20/03/2025 at 20:52, FloatingFatMan said:

So, now AI's are "Hallucinating"....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kgydkr516o

 

Hallucinations is the technical term yeah

[Tomo]

AI has never been smart, there is no intelligence whatsoever. It draws upon data that is already available on the Internet, whether that information is accurate or not.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 21/03/2025 at 11:45, Tomo said:

AI has never been smart, there is no intelligence whatsoever. It draws upon data that is already available on the Internet, whether that information is accurate or not.

Facile interpretation at best.

[Tomo]

On 21/03/2025 at 14:57, Dick Montage said:

Facile interpretation at best.

A more complex answer isn't required and would take awhile.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 24/03/2025 at 10:30, Tomo said:

A more complex answer isn't required and would take awhile.

But provide more value.  All intelligence is based around pre-existing information and extrapolation - arguably we would point towards Wolfram Alpha as a perfect example of this.  Was it "smart"?  By who's definition?  I'd argue yes, because it wasn't just simple 1:1 answers, but rather taking the steps of abstraction away from the input question towards the relevancy between information sources and presenting an answer back - extrapolation.  Saying AI has never been "smart" and that it's just parroting it back shows a lack of understanding of what AI has been for decades.  Now with generative AI, yes - it still presents back answers based upon pre-existing data, but it's able to (when given opportunity) learn from that and apply that learning to other related cases.  That differentiates it greatly from parroting back information.

If a user consumes these responses without understanding how to tailor them, without giving the engine the ability to learn, and then writes it off as "not smart" - that speaks more towards a user than a model.  It may take a while (it's two words) to teach users.

[Steven P. Administrators]

AI also trains on uninformed and incorrect data, think reddit and popular opinion with only a few corrective and downvoted replies, and then you have your answer.

A good AI is one that can distinguish from it but it is like people who are unable to inform themselves properly and then make the wrong uninformed decision.

[freedonX]

Don't know what type of AI  needs you guys are using. I'm using based on services, specifically insurance in mexico with law fundamentals and it's been turned out very well.
Also one of my employees uses it for marketing and also has giving very good results.

In no one way should it be used instead of critical thinking. However if people use AI instead of their brains, they can start saying good bye to their jobs. 
Which overall that's a good thing. As a consumer and cliente of certain services, what I don't want is an air head answering my inquiries.

I have 4 employees and they all use it as guide. I'm responsable in having them in constant training so they don't rot their brain due to lack of use.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 25/03/2025 at 00:04, freedonX said:

Don't know what type of AI  needs you guys are using. I'm using based on services, specifically insurance in mexico with law fundamentals and it's been turned out very well.
Also one of my employees uses it for marketing and also has giving very good results.

In no one way should it be used instead of critical thinking. However if people use AI instead of their brains, they can start saying good bye to their jobs. 
Which overall that's a good thing. As a consumer and cliente of certain services, what I don't want is an air head answering my inquiries.

I have 4 employees and they all use it as guide. I'm responsable in having them in constant training so they don't rot their brain due to lack of use.

You are using a well trained model, which has been provided valid data to work from - and I assume then further consumes the results of whatever it is being used for (which is another form of training that validates it's earlier results).  As such, I absolutely would expect much better results.  I'm doing similar using financial systems to forecast and then validate off the later bills - it's been flawless in this regard.

[sonkaranjali]

I’ve noticed similar behavior. The models aren’t getting “dumber”; updates just adjust the balance of speed, safety, and cost, which can affect thoroughness in multi-step reasoning. Context handling varies too, leading to shorter or less detailed answers. It’s more fine-tuning than a capability drop.

[hellowalkman Reporter]

The addition of newer safeguards could also be contributing to the feeling of AI getting dumber

[GUNNER]

On 22/12/2025 at 03:58, Sigiand said:

I think the feeling that ‘AI is getting dumber’ is often linked to expectations. When technology is new, it amazes us. Then we start using it every day and notice mistakes more often.

I recently searched for some info. on my new stove. The AI overview gave instructions on a microwave. I agree AI is dumb.

[tsupersonic]

you know what they say - garbage in / garbage out. If it trains on misinformation / opinions / reddit posts, then yeah, it may not produce great results. 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 04/01/2026 at 15:43, alexcc said:

You’re not alone in noticing this, but it’s likely not that the models are getting “dumber.” What’s changing is how they’re deployed.

A few factors at play:

Platforms often route users to different model variants depending on load, cost, or plan.

Safety and reliability filters can make responses feel more conservative or less exploratory.

Some tools optimize for speed over depth, which affects multi-step analysis.

Context handling can vary between sessions and interfaces.

The core models continue to improve, but real-world performance depends heavily on product decisions, not just model intelligence.

Actually, a large part of the problem is AI slop itself. As more and more of it is generated, much if it completely false, it gets fed back into the models, polluting the data and increasing the prevalence of "hallucinations".  It's a self-destructive feedback loop that will eventually make them unusable unless a way is found to exclude it.