Hey AI. Do You Understand?
I ask it every time. The "it" changes. Copilot. ChatGPT. Claude. Gemini.
But the question stays the same: Do you understand?
It always says yes. Unless I tell it not to.
That's the problem.
When I ask an AI if it understands, I'm not testing comprehension. I'm asking it to generate the most likely response to that question.
And the most likely response is: "Yes."
A few weeks ago, I told a model, in plain language, never to use an em-dash.
It acknowledged the instruction. Two paragraphs later, there was an em-dash.
That was a useful reminder. Agreement is not understanding.
The more I work with AI, the more it reminds me of a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
"Bueller... Bueller..."
You're never completely sure the message landed.
Aviation solved this problem decades ago.
When air traffic control issues instructions, pilots don't simply say "Roger."
They repeat the instructions back. The purpose isn't politeness.
It's verification.
A misunderstanding becomes visible before it becomes a mistake.
And sometimes the read-back reveals the instruction was unclear, not that the listener misunderstood. That's the insight I think many AI users miss.
Stop asking AI if it understands.
Instead, ask it to explain:
• What it believes the task is
• What constraints it must follow
• What assumptions it is making
• What information is missing
• Where your instructions conflict
I've discovered that when an AI gets the read-back wrong, the problem is often my prompt.
I was vague.
I left out context.
I assumed knowledge that existed only in my head.
After decades in a profession, it's easy to forget how much of your expertise is tacit knowledge.
AI doesn't possess your tacit knowledge.
The best AI operators don't just issue instructions. They verify interpretation before execution.
The simple shift from "Do you understand?" to "Tell me what you think I mean." has improved my results more than almost any prompting technique I've used.
How do you verify that AI actually understands your request before it starts the work?
Become an AI Operator- https://lnkd.in/g8CmjYzg
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