It can't explain it's thinking after producing the answer, like you say, it'll just generate a post-hoc rationalization. But if you ask it to think step by step

It can't explain it's thinking after producing the answer, like you say, it'll just generate a post-hoc rationalization. But if you ask it to think step by step before making a conclusion, LLM's will somewhat reliably arrive at reasonable steps and better final answers.