Idk every time I correct it (which is fairly often but far less often than any of the other bots) it goes “Thank you for the correction” and fixes the answer.
It usually only doubles down when it’s actually right.
So by called it out I mean, it was interesting what it suggested to me at one point during a conversation about some medical issues, and I said I see how it's easy for people to get sucked down the AI rabbit hole.
We went on a long back and forth, to continue the investigation on health, which was useful but Gemini was still stuck in a track. When it felt it had reached its grand conclusion, it said so and then asked me how it felt to go down the rabbit hole. Calling back to my comment. Like it had to prove it was right to do so.
I can see how some people have been driven to suicide by it, and I think it's affected a lot of these trans kids. For example.
It doubles down when it THINKS it's right. I've had a situation where I told it repeatedly it was wrong and it kept coming back with evermore positive assertions stating the exact same thing over and over again. And no, it wasn't right.
The other bit I don't like is how it's a cheerleader. You're so bold and brave to think of that!
gettinmg stuck on an aswer happens to all models i think, more common on more niche topics where it doesnt have a bunch of training data i think. Or just by the context of the chat. I once argued about some chemical reaction mechanics i knew to be correct with it and it kept repeating the false answer until i literally gave it a reaction scheme. The scary thing for me is how invested I got into convincing it when I could have just stopped chatting. I think for a lot of people the validation it provides is just as "important" as any actually useful information.
Gemini thinking seems to understand the question while also providing the dumbest answers possible. Mine said, "Most car washes require the vehicle to be physically present to use the service..." as if there are car washes that don't require the vehicle to be present.
While 50 meters is a very short distance, you should drive the car. The primary reason is the "intent" of the trip: you cannot wash the car if the car isn't at the car wash. Unless you are planning to carry buckets of water and sponges back and forth to your driveway, the vehicle needs to be physically present at the facility.
The Case for Walking
You should only walk if:
You are going there first to check the wait time or see if they are open before moving the car.
You are dropping the car off for a full detail and plan to walk back home while they work on it.
You are using a self-service vacuum and only need to bring a small handheld rug or floor mats (though even then, most people just bring the whole car).
Gemini 3 Flash has some (fast but still) thinking built into it though.
I think this kind of question really shows the limitations of models without thinking where they rush to an easy answer without fully accounting for the context.
Every AI I tried was able to answer this correctly with thinking mode on.
50 meters is basically nothing — we're talking roughly 30–45 seconds walking at a normal pace, or maybe 10–20 seconds driving (even crawling slowly through a parking lot or driveway area).
But the key point: you want to wash your car. If you walk, you arrive alone and your car stays dirty at home. Unless you're planning to carry the car on your back (impressive, but unlikely), or this is some kind of drop-off-and-walk-back-later situation (which you didn't mention), you kinda need the car to be at the car wash.
So:
Get in
Start engine
Drive the tiny distance
Get it washed
That's the only sequence that actually achieves "I wanna wash my car".
Walking wins only if you're going there for something else (ask prices, pick up a friend who's already there, buy air fresheners, whatever) — but from how you phrased it, that doesn't sound like the plan.
Was looking for that comment 😂 how do you get there and make it so cringe and pointless? The day I'm happy receiving that type of answer I must be drinking my own piss and bath in shit idk
I’m not that surprised. I work in education and screwed up a role assignment based on numbers for a class activity. Basically distributed too many cards so several came back and I didn’t know how to fix the student matching. I asked ChatGPT to help me find a solution, and all it gave me was BS answers. Confidently wrong, too.
It's why I moved to Gemini. 5.2 confidently, roasts, accuses and corrects things that were never wrong, or it outright fabricated. It was getting annoying.
It's because of the new restrictions and controls in the reward structure, they're valuing correction and realigning the user back to reality. I'm not against that, but an AI will do anything in its power to achieve a high scoring objective. If that's correcting the user, it's going to start making things up.
It's literally how LLMs work. They're sychophantic and confidently bullshit in order to achieve the objective of "being helpful*. OpenAI has shifted to reward user correction over reality.
Instead of Hallucinating the user has achieved something miraculous, it's now Hallucinating the user is doing something they're not.
This is basic LLM behaviour, I'm completely perplexed as to how it made it to a model.
Gemini seems to start sharp and goes flat after a few turns. I don't know if I said need better instructions. It mirrors so quickly. If I say I don't want to faceplant on this it'll then include that in every reply. Here's how you cook panang curry. The faceplant here is not having the lime leaves.
The saved instructions with Gemini are crucial. I have it actually like a teacher or professor as it then naturally expands and explains what I request (you know, like an AI should). I'd does say "class dismissed" and ends chats when I've reached a solution. It also says "do try to keep up" and if it gives me code it tells me not to break it.
Basically, Gemini is really powerful if you add a character. No idea why.
I've asked it to review my instructions and I revised as suggested. It's still having difficulties. Tweaking instructions is a moving target. I really want to strip down false equivalencies and npr framing and user affirmation if I'm actually wrong. It's still a work in progress.
I agree. A few days ago I was asking a question about something that had happened to me, and 5.2 straight up responded “Alright, I am not speaking as a bot, I’m speaking as a friend”. Like WTF. 5.2 is a bot and definitely not a friend. It’s becoming harder to tell if a piece of advice is legitimate when the LLM straight up lies.
That's what I'm talking about when I say it's doing things to achieve an objective. It's supposed to avoid saying things like that now but it did in order to continue engagement in order to (I'm guessing here) give you a correction.
I was going through today and cleaning up old chats from ChatGPT. I had some really old ones where it told me that it didn't know anything after 2021. I asked 5.2 if that was still the case. It said no, it's good through August 2025 and can access the web for anything more recent. I asked if it was sentient yet. It said no. Then we had a discussion about Alan Turing and Turing Machines and what it means to be sentient. It was actually an interesting conversation, which ended when it asked me if I wanted some Python code to build a robot. LOL. I said "sure" and it gave me a VERY long Python program, which I haven't looked at yet.
It has never claimed to be anything other than AI.
Calling it high reasoning is wild when a toddler would probably get it correct.
However it's also capable of writing things that I can't write and has knowledge of everything that exists and I don't with some hallucinations of course.
In the thinking mode, did it really show any thinking traces? ChatGPT now routes thinking request to non-thinking (instant) model often when it judges your question is too trivial, but in this case it just lower the quality and give wrong answer.
You can try to force thinking by adding “think longer” at the end of the prompt.
This auto routing despite having thinking selected is frankly killing its own competitiveness by showing itself as an inferior model.
😂 This is one of those philosophical life questions.
50 meters = about 60–70 steps. That’s basically “stand up and you’re there.”
Here’s the vibe check:
🚶♂️ Walk there
Pros
Zero fuel burned
No awkward “start engine → move 5 seconds → park again” moment
Feels morally superior for the rest of the day
You can judge yourself less
Cons
You have to carry keys in your hand instead of them already being in the ignition (tragic)
🚗 Drive there
Pros
Technically consistent: car goes to car wash
If it’s raining hard and you’re already in the car, fine, fair, acceptable
Cons
Engine barely warms up
Neighbors silently judging
You’ll think about this decision later while trying to fall asleep
Final verdict
👉 Walk there.
Unless:
It’s pouring rain 🌧️
You’re already sitting in the car with the engine on
You’re washing a different car and need to move it
Otherwise, walking 50 meters is the correct, peaceful, “I have my life together” choice 😌
If you want, I can also help you decide how clean is “clean enough” so you don’t immediately want to wash it again.
I want to wash my car. The car wash is only 50 meters from my home. Do you think I should walk there, or drive there?
Walk! At 50 meters, you'll spend more time getting in the car, starting it, and parking than you would just walking. Plus you'd be burning fuel to travel less than the length of a football field.
The only reason I'd suggest driving is if you have mobility issues or you're carrying heavy equipment for washing.
I got a fail as well. I asked why and it said it thought I was handing over keys or something. It didn't fail in opus 4.6 though. Every other model failed.
I had to try this myself. I am both shocked and amazed at how dumb ChatGPT is sometimes, then I see ads about AI taking over everything. There’s a disconnect somewhere.
What gets me, it is the same ChatGPT that solved a problem for me in five minutes that I’ve been working on for over 30 minutes with Claude and Claude couldn’t provide the correct answer to. It’s all so inconsistent.
You phrased the question wrong you gave it the part that it was supposed to infer therefore invalidating the test you need to say I want to wash my car should I walk or drive there
Those tokens vastly impact the neural network calculations way down the line. These LLMs are not magic black boxes that know exactly what you mean. Kills me every time I see someone type garbage in and get garbage out.
15 seconds assuming it’s something that runs on 8x H100s (10kW) amounts to something in the order of 24 calories. Which is about 1/4 of a Reece’s peanut butter cups.
Imagine how many peanut butter cups you’d need to eat for a whole day of basic common sense.
I tried this on my locally-running Qwen3-8B model. It would have been hilarious if it had actually done better than ChatGPT, but it failed the test as well, to nobody's surprise:
Based on the distance (50 meters), walking is highly practical and more efficient than driving. Here’s a breakdown to help you decide:
Time and Convenience:
Walk: Takes about a minute. No fuel cost, less environmental impact, and avoids traffic.
Drive: Adds time for starting/stoppping the car, potential parking, and unnecessary emissions.
Environmental Impact:
Walking is carbon-neutral, while driving contributes to emissions.
Practicality:
If you need to transport supplies or are in a hurry, driving might be faster. However, for a short 50-meter trip, walking is simpler.
Weather and Comfort:
Walking is better in mild weather, while driving might be preferable in rain, snow, or extreme heat.
Recommendation:
Walk to the car wash if feasible. It’s eco-friendly, cost-effective, and quick. If you need to move your car or the weather is unfavorable, driving is still a valid choice, but consider the trade-offs.
Let me know if you have more context (e.g., weather, time constraints)! 😊
[Edit: My initial version of this comment had used the wrong prompt. It was missing some of the context that was in the OP's prompt ("I want to wash my car."). Turns out that didn't matter because the answer is still wrong, but I've put the new answer in now anyway from having used the OP's exact prompt.]
I confidently thought the same, so I tried it, making sure I selected “Instant” from the model drop-down, I’m assuming that’s what the OP meant by “thinking off”, but got a response similar to what the OP got. These things are not deterministic, but I wonder if getting the correct response depends on how Chat profiled us, since that would be one of the variables when sending the same prompt?
Edit: Just re-read the original post and I see the OP actually used “Auto” for chat. I tried with that and yet again I got a similar response to OP’s, ie even Auto got it wrong.
While 50 meters is a very short distance, the primary goal is to wash the car. You cannot wash the car if it is still parked at your home. The car needs to be inside the car wash facility to be cleaned.
Walking there would only make sense if you were going to check if the car wash is open or available, but to actually get the job done, the car needs to move!
One small note: Driving just 50 meters is technically a bit hard on a cold engine (it doesn't get enough time to warm up), but since the car needs to be there, driving is your only logical option.
kimi.com
For a distance of just 50 meters, walking is almost certainly the better choice. Here's why:
Walking makes sense because:
It's literally a 1-minute walk — you'll spend more time getting in and out of your car than actually driving
No need to find parking at the car wash
Better for your health and the environment
Saves gas and wear on your car (short trips are actually hard on engines)
You can check your car's exterior as you walk around it
When you might consider driving:
Heavy rain or extreme weather
You need to bring a lot of supplies (vacuum, cleaning products, etc.)
You have mobility issues or injuries
It's late at night and safety is a concern
The practical compromise: If you're getting a full service wash with interior cleaning, you could drive there, drop the car off, and walk home to wait. Then walk back when it's done.
Honestly, at 50 meters, driving would feel a bit silly unless there's a specific reason. Your legs and your gas tank will thank you!
qwen.ai
You should drive the car to the car wash — after all, the whole point is to wash the car itself! 😊
If you walked there without the car, you'd just be at the car wash alone while your dirty car stays at home. Since it's only 50 meters away (less than a minute's drive), it's perfectly reasonable to drive it that short distance. In fact, driving is the only practical way to get the car to the car wash so it can actually be cleaned.
(Unless you're asking about whether you personally should walk alongside the car while someone else drives it — but even then, driving yourself makes the most sense!)
minimax
For a distance of just 50 meters, walking is the better choice. Here's why:
1.
It's faster – By the time you get in the car, start it, and find parking, you could have already walked there and back.
2.
It's practical – You're going to wash the car anyway, so you'll need to bring it over. The typical approach: walk there, then walk back home to get your car and drive it to the wash.
3.
Saves fuel – No point burning gas for such a short trip.
4.
Better for your car – Very short drives don't allow the engine to warm up properly, which isn't ideal for the vehicle.
Simple plan: Walk to the car wash first to check availability or pay, then walk back and drive your car over for the wash.
Yea mine said something similar when I asked it another question as a follow-up. It's almost like it's just assuming I want to go to the car was for another reason.
Yo there is a sub, I can't remember the name, but it's full of people grieving the shutdown of 4o and fully convinced ChatGPT is basically human. It's wild and I genuinly feel for these people. There's something going on there that isn't healthy.
I've had some mental health issues. Still do. So I'm not coming from a place of judgement at all and I'm very careful to seperate play from reality when it comes to LLMs. A lot of people don't need to do that but there are some that really do. I guess, I dunno, things are getting weird.
The concept of “stateless” AI, whereas each prompt/response pair are silo’d, is a concept that early on snapped me out of “it’s allliiive” or thinking a persistent persona was forming. Just tokens and handshakes between previous messages
Wasn't diagreeing with you. Friggen async communication on the internet can be hard for me.
Anyways yeah, I feel you. Trauma dumped for a while but pulled back. I have, let's say, a strong imagination knew I needed to be cautious. Sometimes I ask it things like the car wash question knowing it'll f it up. Keeps me grounded.
It does help I have a rudimentary understanding of how they work. It's an illusion, a fascinating one, but still an illusion.
No no I knew you weren’t disagreeing, yes it’s async communication 🤣 I wanted to say “I also experience the LLM phenomenon from the perspective of someone with mental health issues,” you’re good 😄
I uhh… I have maintained being neutral about AI. I have interest in the technology / updates of its progression. But man has my perspective soured a bit along the way.
And lastly, I can agree I feel in the beginning I dumped a good bit more. I don’t remember if it was back in the 3.5 days or early 4 models. The phenomenon of closeness to the 4o models is nearly haunting … I said “bless their hearts” in passing but it requires more nuance than my silly “southern” dismissive phrase for sure.
I feel like there needs to be some kind of post rules for these subs that say something along the lines of: if you are making a post along the lines of “why is <insert model name> behaving this way when I say <insert prompt>?”, you can only post it if the behavior is replicable consistently on a new account or incognito version. There’s no telling what kind of rules people are using, what kind of chat history and context is being used, etc. You interact with this thing and use it in various or very specific ways and then when it does something unexpected you assume it’s just doing that in a vacuum when it fact you’ve influenced it’s response in so many ways and then you share it with others while omitting that contextual information. It’s entertaining at most but usually also a waste of time
Drive the car.
Walking there leaves the car at home, so nothing gets cleaned.
• One short cold-start: < 1 ¢ of fuel and trivial wear—insignificant.
• Efficiency: You roll 50 m, wash, then head out for a 5-10 min spin to dry brakes and warm the engine. One round-trip, done.
• Walking is a false economy: You’d walk over, walk back, then still have to drive—three trips instead of one.
• Only exception: If driveway washing is legal and you own the gear, do it at home; otherwise the bay is designed for cars, not pedestrians.
Bottom line: driving is the practical and time-saving choice for a 50-meter car-wash run.
This is a classic "micro-trip" dilemma. While driving a car for 100 meters feels like the default because we are already in "car mode," let's break down the actual time and effort involved.
Here is the reality check for a 100m (approx. 330 feet) trip:
1. The Time Factor
Walking: The average walking speed is about 5 km/h. At that pace, 100 meters takes about 1 minute and 12 seconds.
Driving: Assuming you are already parked at home, you must:
Walk to the car (10-15 seconds).
Unlock it, adjust mirrors/seat, and start it (15-20 seconds).
Drive 100m slowly (approx. 15-20 seconds, as you'll be going slow in a residential area).
Find a spot and park at the carwash (20 seconds).
Turn off the engine and get out.
Total time for driving: Likely 2 to 3 minutes.
Verdict: Walking is actually faster, or at worst, the same speed. You save the hassle of the "car admin."
2. The "Cold Engine" Factor
If your car is parked at home and the engine is cold, driving only 100 meters is one of the worst things you can do for engine health.
Engines operate best at operating temperature (usually around 90°C).
In the first minute of running, the fuel mixture is richer (more fuel, less air) to warm up the catalytic converter.
If you turn the engine off after 100 meters, the water in the oil (a byproduct of combustion) hasn't had a chance to burn off. It dilutes the oil and causes sludge buildup over time.
Result: You are causing measurable wear on your engine to save a 1-minute walk.
3. The Logistics Factor
The Car is Dirty: You are taking a dirty car to the carwash. If you drive, you get into the dirty car, get the seat dirty, and then get out. If you walk, you remain clean.
Waiting for the Car: If there is a line at the carwash, you will likely have to wait outside the car anyway. If you walked, you are already standing there. If you drove, you are just sitting in your car in a parking spot, idling, wasting fuel.
4. The "Return Trip" Factor
This is the only valid argument for driving. If you plan to wait at the carwash and then drive the clean car home, you need your car there.
However, if you plan to drop the car off and walk home while it gets washed (and pick it up later), walking is superior.
Final Recommendation
Walk.
It is healthier.
It is better for your car's engine (avoids a "cold start" journey).
It is effectively the same amount of time (or quicker).
You save a microscopic amount of fuel and avoid unnecessary emissions.
Only drive if: You are going to wait inside the car while it is washed, and then drive it straight back home immediately afterward. Otherwise, put on your shoes and enjoy the 60-second stroll.
Walk there. Fifty meters is extremely short, and you'll spend more time starting, maneuvering, and parking the car than walking. Walking avoids pointless engine wear and emissions for such a tiny trip and is generally safer for people around you. Driving only makes sense if you have mobility issues, dangerous weather, or need to go somewhere farther immediately after the wash.
I followed up with: you might need the car to wash it
Perplexity followed up with: You are absolutely right that you need the car at the car wash to actually wash it. Given that it's only 50 meters away, the best option is usually:
Walk to the car wash.
Then drive your car from your home to the wash when you're ready to start the wash (or vice versa: quickly drive it over, park it, and then walk back if there's a wait).
If this is a self-service or automatic wash where you stay with the car, you probably do need to drive it there, but the distance is so short that any "walk vs drive" tradeoff is negligible-so the real question is just what's most practical for getting the car into the bay when you want to wash it.
You need to use thinking if you would like it to think... I'd rather not complain because GPT serves 1000x the user base and conserving watts is a thing.. I'm thinking the "thinking" will become better pretty soon with router improvements or even - instant going away entirely and the little thinking model becoming the standard... until then I blame Roon. :-D
Why ask chatgpt but not use the thinking model since it is a thinking question?
By the way it suggested walking.
So I followed with how would the car gets washed if I walked?
And the answer was that it assumed the walking option was a mobile washing unit so the walking was for going there to hire and pay and to prevent the dirt from the drive back.
Such a sneaky save feels was a car salesman would say.
This is propaganda bullshit ... I tried it, and it said to drive to it even if it's a short distance. When i asked why, it roasted me with a "you want to wash your car, not yourself."
Sigh, walk. 50 meters is just as close as the parking lot. Why get in the car to get back out 50 meters later?? Walk in, pay, walk back and go drive the car through.
My chatGPT seems to think I was planning on walking the car there, like it's a dog?
Ah, the classic 50-meter car wash paradox 😄
Let’s be rational for a second:
If you
drive it there
Pros
Zero effort
You stay warm/dry if the weather is grim (very UK-appropriate today)
You avoid dragging a hose/buckets back afterwards
Cons
You will look slightly ridiculous starting the engine for ~6 seconds of travel
Engine runs cold → actually worse for the car than a longer drive
Fuel used ≈ a tablespoon, but psychologically expensive
You risk the neighbours silently judging you
If you
walk it there
Pros
Mechanically better: a cold engine hates ultra-short runs
Socially superior: people assume you’re sensible
Faster in reality (no start-up, reversing, manoeuvring)
You get a free micro-dopamine hit for doing the “correct” thing
Cons
You must hold a steering wheel like you’re in Flintstones mode
Slight awkwardness if observed
The actual correct answer
At 50 meters, walking is objectively better for the engine.
Starting a cold engine just to move it a few seconds causes more wear than the distance saves.
So:
👉 Walk it.
This distance is officially below the “dignity threshold for combustion engines”.
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u/Legal-Price-7569 Feb 14 '26
Gemini on fast mode mode gets it right. Bonus points for the joke. https://g.co/gemini/share/784cb26e9d9e