A shopping math problem
Mark asks: buy three get one free, each box is $12, I need ten boxes, how much do I pay? AI answers right away: $90. Wrong.
CHAIN OF THOUGHT
Tell AI to think step by step
Add one sentence: think step by step. This is called chain of thought. AI writes out: two rounds of buy three get one gives eight boxes for the price of six. Two more boxes. Pay for eight boxes in total, $96.
WHY
Writing it out gives room to think
Because AI thinks with the very words it writes. Each step written out is more room to work things out, as in video 26 about reasoning.
NEWER MODELS
Thinking mode is built in
Many newer models have a built-in thinking mode. With those, turning it on is enough, no extra instructions needed.
WHEN
Use it for multi-step tasks
Use it for tasks with many steps: working out costs, comparing options, making plans. For simple things like translating one sentence, you don't need it. It just slows things down.
CHECKING
Read each step to catch mistakes
A bonus: you can read every step, so you see right away where AI went wrong, instead of just getting one number.
This article is based on the video Tell AI to think step by step (chain of thought) from the Mark học AI channel. Watch the video (in Vietnamese) to see the animations.