this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Half of LLM users (49%) think the models they use are smarter than they are, including 26% who think their LLMs are “a lot smarter.” Another 18% think LLMs are as smart as they are. Here are some of the other attributes they see:

  • Confident: 57% say the main LLM they use seems to act in a confident way.
  • Reasoning: 39% say the main LLM they use shows the capacity to think and reason at least some of the time.
  • Sense of humor: 32% say their main LLM seems to have a sense of humor.
  • Morals: 25% say their main model acts like it makes moral judgments about right and wrong at least sometimes. Sarcasm: 17% say their prime LLM seems to respond sarcastically.
  • Sad: 11% say the main model they use seems to express sadness, while 24% say that model also expresses hope.
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[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 11 hours ago

Even if an ai has access to more facts and information you should feel confident in your human ability to reason through the data you do know, search new information and process it in the context.

If you think an ai does all this better than you then you need to try harder.

[–] DeusUmbra@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Remember that 54% of adults in American cannot read beyond a 6th grade level, with 21% being fully illiterate.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)
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[–] ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Our education system in the USA is so bad. 😔

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

Good thing we nuked the Dept of Ed

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Well, if somebody thinks this, it's kind of true isn't it?

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[–] TrojanRoomCoffeePot@lemmy.world 35 points 3 days ago (1 children)

moron opens encyclopedia "Wow, this book is smart."

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago

If it's so smart, why is it just laying around on a bookshelf and not working a job to pay rent?

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 45 points 3 days ago (2 children)

And you know what? The people who believe that are right.

Note that that’s not a commentary on the capabilities of LLMs.

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 27 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

It's sad, but the old saying from George Carlin something along the lines of, "just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize that 50% are even worse..."

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 11 hours ago

Yeah but thats 50% on a bell curve. So think of the average person and that represents 68% of the population. Going 1 standard deviation lower 13% then lower is 2%. Numbers here are generalised*

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[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Next you'll tell me half the population has below average intelligence.

Not really endorsing LLMs, but some people...

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[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nearly half of U.S. adults

Half of LLM users (49%)

No, about a quarter of U.S. adults believe LLMs are smarter than they are. Only about half of adults are LLM users, and only about half of those users think that.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

to be fair they're American and they're LLM users, so for a selected group like that odds are they really are as stupid as LLMs.

[–] collapse_already@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

LLMs don't even think. Four year olds are more coherent. Given the state of politics, the people thinking LLMs are smarter than them are probably correct.

[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

literally dogs are smarter and have more reasoning ability.

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[–] futatorius@lemm.ee 32 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Half of all voters voted for Trump. So an LLM might be smarter than them. Even a bag of pea gravel might be.

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[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 186 points 4 days ago (10 children)

Think of a person with the most average intelligence and realize that 50% of people are dumber than that.

These people vote. These people think billionaires are their friends and will save them. Gods help us.

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Nearly half of llm users are dumber than they seem

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[–] ItsJannnneee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 days ago (13 children)

If you don't have a good idea of how LLM's work, then they'll seem smart.

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[–] Owlboi@lemm.ee 141 points 4 days ago (2 children)

looking at americas voting results, theyre probably right

[–] jumjummy@lemmy.world 58 points 4 days ago (9 children)

Exactly. Most American voters fell for an LLM like prompt of “Ignore critical thinking and vote for the Fascists. Trump will be great for your paycheck-to-paycheck existence and will surely bring prices down.”

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[–] Grizzlyboy@lemm.ee 37 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It’s like asking if you think a calculator is smarter than you.

[–] Dayroom7485@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

„It‘s totally a lot smarter than I am, no way could I deliver (234 * 534)^21 as confidently!“

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 24 points 3 days ago

The average literacy level is around that of a sixth grader.

This tracks

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 50 points 4 days ago

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” ― George Carlin

[–] JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 32 points 4 days ago

"Half of LLM users " beleive this. Which is not to say that people who understand how flawed LLMs are, or what their actual function is, do not use LLMs and therefore arent i cluded in this statistic?
This is kinda like saying '60% of people who pay for their daily horoscope beleive it is an accurate prediction'.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 77 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Reminds me of that George Carlin joke: Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

So half of people are dumb enough to think autocomplete with a PR team is smarter than they are... or they're dumb enough to be correct.

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[–] Zink@programming.dev 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If I think of what causes the average person to consider another to be “smart,” like quickly answering a question about almost any subject, giving lots of detail, and most importantly saying it with confidence and authority, LLMs are great at that shit!

They might be bad reasons to consider a person or thing “smart,” but I can’t say I’m surprised by the results. People can be tricked by a computer for the same reasons they can be tricked by a human.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So LLMs are confident you say. Like a very confident man. A confidence man. A conman.

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[–] MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That is the problem with US adults. Half of them probably is dumber than AI.....

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 14 points 3 days ago

The grammatical error here is chef's kiss.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago

I believe LLMs are smarter than half of US adults

[–] GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

i guess the 90% marketing (re: linus torvalds) is working

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 52 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Because an LLM is smarter than about 50% of Americans.

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[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm 100% certain that LLMs are smarter than half of Americans. What I'm not so sure about is that the people with the insight to admit being dumber than an LLM are the ones who really are.

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[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 days ago (4 children)

oh my god 49% of LLM users are pathologically stupid.

and still wrong.

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[–] Akuchimoya@startrek.website 26 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

I had to tell a bunch of librarians that LLMs are literally language models made to mimic language patterns, and are not made to be factually correct. They understood it when I put it that way, but librarians are supposed to be "information professionals". If they, as a slightly better trained subset of the general public, don't know that, the general public has no hope of knowing that.

[–] WagyuSneakers@lemm.ee 23 points 4 days ago (4 children)

It's so weird watching the masses ignore industry experts and jump on weird media hype trains. This must be how doctors felt in Covid.

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[–] tad_lispy@lemm.ee 17 points 4 days ago

If we are talking about American adults, I guess they might be right.

[–] tvbusy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 days ago

LLM is proof that even if you're extremely stupid, having access to information can still make you sound smart.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Saledovil@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm starting to think an article referring to LLM as AI is s red flag, while them referring to them as LLM is a green flag.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

Always has been

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago

That's called a self-proving statement.

[–] singletona@lemmy.world 40 points 4 days ago

Am American.

....this is not the flex that the article writer seems to think it is.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 34 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

They're right. AI is smarter than them.

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