Expert Warns CoT Does Not Represent Actual Model Reasoning
MelMitchell1 · x · 2026-08-05
AI researcher Melanie Mitchell points out that most non-researchers mistakenly believe Chain-of-Thought (CoT) is a genuine representation of how a model "thinks," a misconception amplified by rhetoric from companies like OpenAI.
She highlights that while CoT improves performance, a Quanta article clarifies that CoT is not necessarily faithful to the model's internal logic. The public needs to understand this distinction to avoid over-trusting AI reasoning capabilities.
Related event: Scholars Debate LLM Reasoning: Does CoT Reflect True Thought(6 posts)→
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