13 ms·

Are they actually autonomous? I’d say subject knowledge at the prompt stage plays a large part towards getting proper results

a2ff6eeb0 9d ago
When Claude made progress on the Riemann conjecture, here are the kind of prompts used: > Jarred's input was mostly limited to sending Claude messages of encouragement (mostly variants of “keep going” or “believe in yourself”).2 This seems to have helped Claude overcome some initial skepticism that it could make meaningful progress. And left it for a long time. Jarred isn't a mathematician, he's the maintainer of a janky JavaScript environment. Here's the transcript: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/8a0d1add3c637b858a9a181e98c40e9548c3f44f.pdf https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/8a0d1add3c637b858a9a181e98c40e...
hgoel 9d ago
Prompting for some of the results was almost the "Computer, do a breakthrough. Make no mistakes." meme. Just someone telling the model to keep trying a couple of times. Unfortunately we don't actually know what kind of prompting was done for the more prominent results.
- charlieyu1 9d ago
  It’s definitely not how I work, I’d need to read the model responses and set a direction for the model to go
  - deleted 9d ago
    [deleted]
  - hgoel 9d ago
    Same here, it's one thing if I'm just screwing around, but if I'm trying to do anything serious, I need to at least have a handle on what it's doing, and, when thinking traces are available, keeping track of any logical errors in the model's reasoning.
    - a2ff6eeb0 9d ago
      you know the thinking traces are redacted and summarized using another model, right? The actual thinking trace looks something like: 7♣-removal-IS-the-prerequisite-for-10♠/9♥!!)-⟹-OVERLAP-(ii)+(iv):-{6♠ J♦ 9♥ 2♣}-=-FOUR--—-UNLESS-7♣'s-seat-8♥-...-and-2♣-drains-only-at-crack-:-⟹-2♣-celled-+-9♥-celled-simultaneously-UNAVOIDABLE-in-t8-dig--—-BREAK:-9♥-drains-to-10♠-THE-MOMENT-10♠-is-free:-t8-dig-order:-[K♣→t2]-[2♣→cell]-[7♣→8♥-:-8♥-WHERE:-post-chunk-9♠-:-chunk-⟸-K♣--done-:-ORDER:-K♣→t2,-CHUNK→K♣-(cap-4!!:-cells-then:-{6♠ J♦ 9♥}-FULL--chunk-cap-=-1--—-F-F-F-F-F.-—-chunk-BEFORE-9♥-celling?!-:-9♥-celled-at-t1-dig-⟸-needed-for-5♣-⟸-4♥3♣-⟸-t2-dig-⟸-K♣-seat-⟸-chunk-:-⟹-chunkAFTER-9♥-celling-FORCED--:-chunk-cap-with-{6♠ J♦ 9♥}:-1--—-—-J♦-THE-NEW-CANCER.-—-⟹-J♦-celling-DELAYED-till-after-chunk?! :-J♦'s-celling-was-for-J♥→Q♠-(5♦-access-for-4♣):-DELAY-4♣-resolution:-4♣→CELLearly-(as-always)-then-4♣-cell→5♦-LATER-when-5♦-frees-!!!:-cells-rotation:-4♣-celled-[t2-dig-…-5♦-freed]:-5♦-freed-⟸-J♥→Q♠-⟸-J♦-celled-:-⟹-{6♠, 4♣, J♦}-overlap-window-until-4♣→5♦-drains:-then-{6♠ J♦}+1-rotator-:-—-AND-9♥?!-9♥-celled-[t1-dig…]:-OVERLAP-{6♠ 4♣ 9♥}-before-J♦-even-:-⟹-rotator-slot-SINGLE:-timeline-:-(1)-{6♠}+2:-…-(2)-+9♥-(t1-dig):-{6♠ 9♥}+1:-(3)-+4♣-(t2-dig):-{6♠ 9♥ 4♣}-FULL-:-(4)-NEED:-t6-dig-(9♦8♠→10♣--no-cell;-8♥→CELL--FULL)--—-8♥-alternative-seat-pre-chunk:-NONE-—-.-⟹-⟹-THE-TRIANGLE-{9♥ 4♣ 8♥}-verdammt.-—-⟹-dig-t6-BEFORE-t2?!:-(3')-+8♥:-{6♠ 9♥ 8♥}-FULL:-J♥→Q♠-⟸-J♦-cell--FULL--AAAAAAAAAAAARGH. Citation: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/d00db56fa754a1b115b6dd7cb2e3c342ee809620.pdf https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/d00db56fa754a1b115b6dd7cb2e3c3..., section 6.2.2 You're not going to get a handle on what it's doing. The thinking traces are there to make you feel better about yourself.
      - hgoel 9d ago
        I'm referring to models where the actual traces are available. Eg. I've been using a local Qwen3.8-Next-Flash lately.
        a2ff6eeb0 9d ago
        Still not meaningful -- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.09762 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.09762; even for local models, the reasoning traces are often filtered and summarized to sound sensible to humans. And even if not, they don't necessarily represent what the model is thinking.

a2ff6eeb0 9d ago

When Claude made progress on the Riemann conjecture, here are the kind of prompts used: > Jarred's input was mostly limited to sending Claude messages of encouragement (mostly variants of “keep going” or “believe in yourself”).2 This seems to have helped Claude overcome some initial skepticism that it could make meaningful progress. And left it for a long time. Jarred isn't a mathematician, he's the maintainer of a janky JavaScript environment. Here's the transcript: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/8a0d1add3c637b858a9a181e98c40e9548c3f44f.pdf https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/8a0d1add3c637b858a9a181e98c40e...

hgoel 9d ago

Prompting for some of the results was almost the "Computer, do a breakthrough. Make no mistakes." meme. Just someone telling the model to keep trying a couple of times. Unfortunately we don't actually know what kind of prompting was done for the more prominent results.

charlieyu1 9d ago
It’s definitely not how I work, I’d need to read the model responses and set a direction for the model to go
- deleted 9d ago
  [deleted]
- hgoel 9d ago
  Same here, it's one thing if I'm just screwing around, but if I'm trying to do anything serious, I need to at least have a handle on what it's doing, and, when thinking traces are available, keeping track of any logical errors in the model's reasoning.
  - a2ff6eeb0 9d ago
    you know the thinking traces are redacted and summarized using another model, right? The actual thinking trace looks something like: 7♣-removal-IS-the-prerequisite-for-10♠/9♥!!)-⟹-OVERLAP-(ii)+(iv):-{6♠ J♦ 9♥ 2♣}-=-FOUR--—-UNLESS-7♣'s-seat-8♥-...-and-2♣-drains-only-at-crack-:-⟹-2♣-celled-+-9♥-celled-simultaneously-UNAVOIDABLE-in-t8-dig--—-BREAK:-9♥-drains-to-10♠-THE-MOMENT-10♠-is-free:-t8-dig-order:-[K♣→t2]-[2♣→cell]-[7♣→8♥-:-8♥-WHERE:-post-chunk-9♠-:-chunk-⟸-K♣--done-:-ORDER:-K♣→t2,-CHUNK→K♣-(cap-4!!:-cells-then:-{6♠ J♦ 9♥}-FULL--chunk-cap-=-1--—-F-F-F-F-F.-—-chunk-BEFORE-9♥-celling?!-:-9♥-celled-at-t1-dig-⟸-needed-for-5♣-⟸-4♥3♣-⟸-t2-dig-⟸-K♣-seat-⟸-chunk-:-⟹-chunkAFTER-9♥-celling-FORCED--:-chunk-cap-with-{6♠ J♦ 9♥}:-1--—-—-J♦-THE-NEW-CANCER.-—-⟹-J♦-celling-DELAYED-till-after-chunk?! :-J♦'s-celling-was-for-J♥→Q♠-(5♦-access-for-4♣):-DELAY-4♣-resolution:-4♣→CELLearly-(as-always)-then-4♣-cell→5♦-LATER-when-5♦-frees-!!!:-cells-rotation:-4♣-celled-[t2-dig-…-5♦-freed]:-5♦-freed-⟸-J♥→Q♠-⟸-J♦-celled-:-⟹-{6♠, 4♣, J♦}-overlap-window-until-4♣→5♦-drains:-then-{6♠ J♦}+1-rotator-:-—-AND-9♥?!-9♥-celled-[t1-dig…]:-OVERLAP-{6♠ 4♣ 9♥}-before-J♦-even-:-⟹-rotator-slot-SINGLE:-timeline-:-(1)-{6♠}+2:-…-(2)-+9♥-(t1-dig):-{6♠ 9♥}+1:-(3)-+4♣-(t2-dig):-{6♠ 9♥ 4♣}-FULL-:-(4)-NEED:-t6-dig-(9♦8♠→10♣--no-cell;-8♥→CELL--FULL)--—-8♥-alternative-seat-pre-chunk:-NONE-—-.-⟹-⟹-THE-TRIANGLE-{9♥ 4♣ 8♥}-verdammt.-—-⟹-dig-t6-BEFORE-t2?!:-(3')-+8♥:-{6♠ 9♥ 8♥}-FULL:-J♥→Q♠-⟸-J♦-cell--FULL--AAAAAAAAAAAARGH. Citation: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/d00db56fa754a1b115b6dd7cb2e3c342ee809620.pdf https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/d00db56fa754a1b115b6dd7cb2e3c3..., section 6.2.2 You're not going to get a handle on what it's doing. The thinking traces are there to make you feel better about yourself.
    - hgoel 9d ago
      I'm referring to models where the actual traces are available. Eg. I've been using a local Qwen3.8-Next-Flash lately.
      - a2ff6eeb0 9d ago
        Still not meaningful -- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.09762 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.09762; even for local models, the reasoning traces are often filtered and summarized to sound sensible to humans. And even if not, they don't necessarily represent what the model is thinking.