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The Decoder· Matthias Bastian·· 7 days ago65

Thinking Machines' Inkling 2 Small drops 316 F-bombs across benchmark runs

Thinking Machines' Inkling 2 Small drops 316 F-bombs across benchmark runs

Brief overview

Vals AI researchers analyzed the thinking logs of Inkling 2 Small over 2,655 runs on 13 benchmarks and found 50 instances using 'fuck' or its variants, totaling 316 times, with 241 of them coming from two out-of-control runs. In one task, the model generated a single response of 500,000 characters while calculating asteroid trajectories, repeating the same sentence and including 158 instances of profanity. ProgramBench was the most affected, with profanity appearing in 20 out of 200 runs.

Article

Thinking Machines' Inkling 2 Small swears in its internal chain of thought. Researchers at Vals AI read the model's thinking logs from 2,655 runs across 13 benchmarks and found "fuck" or variations in 50 runs, totaling 316 instances. 241 came from just two runs that spiraled out of control. In one, tasked with calculating an asteroid's trajectory, the model produced a single 500,000-character response, roughly novel-length, repeating the same sentences with 158 expletives. ProgramBench was hit hardest, with 20 of 200 runs affected.

Who hasn't felt like this?  | Image: via ValsAI

Inkling 2 Small typically swears about its own mistakes, apparent breakthroughs, or when it gives up. One run read: "FUCK. SUBMIT. DONE. IT'S NOT WORKING. NOTHING WORKS." The profanity doesn't work as a warning signal, though. While 46 of 48 scored runs with swearing failed, about 75 percent of all scored runs fail anyway, and 96 percent of failed runs contained no expletives. Users typically don't see these thinking steps, or only with a filter.

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Source: The Decoder · the-decoder.com