1. human feedback is essential
these systems rely heavily on human feedback to ensure their safety and accuracy. while they are initially trained on massive amounts of text data, human oversight is crucial to add ethical context and prevent harmful outputs.
2. they don’t understand language like humans
unlike people, chatbots process language by breaking it down into small tokens—words or even parts of words. this can sometimes lead to unusual or awkward phrasing since their interpretation is based on patterns, not meaning.
3. their knowledge has a cut-off date
chatbots don't have real-time awareness. for example, chatgpt’s knowledge stops at june 2024. without live access to the internet, it can’t provide information about events after that date unless specifically updated.
4. they can “hallucinate”
despite often sounding confident and accurate, chatbots can sometimes generate false or misleading information—a phenomenon known as ai hallucination. it’s always important to fact-check responses.
5. they’re skilled at solving math problems
these systems excel at breaking down complex math problems into smaller, manageable steps, solving them one by one with precision.
experts stress that understanding how these chatbots work—and their limitations—helps us use them more effectively and responsibly. while powerful, they are still evolving tools and not a substitute for human intelligence.