ChatGPT not returning exhaustive lists, even after instructing it to

Prompting
,
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For example, when I give it this prompt:

Provide an exhaustive list of beaches and hikes in Los Angeles. Return as many results as possible for each. You can return a different number of results for each.

It will return something like:

Sure, here’s a list of popular beaches and hikes in Los Angeles:

Beaches:

  1. Santa Monica Beach
  2. Venice Beach
  3. Malibu Surfrider Beach
  4. Zuma Beach
  5. Manhattan Beach
  6. Hermosa Beach
  7. El Matador State Beach
  8. Leo Carrillo State Park Beach
  9. Dockweiler State Beach
  10. Point Dume State Beach

Hikes:

  1. Runyon Canyon Park
  2. Griffith Park - Hollywood Sign Trail
  3. Temescal Canyon Loop Trail
  4. Eaton Canyon Falls Trail
  5. Solstice Canyon Loop Trail
  6. Los Liones Canyon Trail
  7. Escondido Falls Trail
  8. Sandstone Peak (Mishe Mokwa) Trail
  9. Hollywood Reservoir Loop Trail
  10. Murphy Ranch Trail

These are just a few options, but Los Angeles has a wealth of outdoor activities to explore!

Obviously, this is not exhaustive since it says “these are just a few options” at the end of the response.

If I tell it again to return an exhaustive list, it will return 20 results for each category (beaches and hikes). Again, this is not exhaustive AND it’s returning 20 for each category, instead of however many beaches and hikes there are.

How can I prompt ChatGPT to actually return an exhaustive list for each category, and not have it return exactly 10 or exactly 20 results for each?

Thanks!

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Potentially related thread:

One issue might be that “exhaustive” could be subjective, and another that the GPTs might not actually be up to the task.

For instance, if there were thousands of options, how could the AI possibly track what it already wrote? Is there a structured way to go about this? Probably not alphabetically, unless there is an authoritative alphabetical list out there - but you could try, you might get some result. Working through it spatially won’t work (except maybe for beaches along the coast) because text generation is one dimensional.

The next issue is a matter of definition. What’s technically a hike? What’s technically a beach? If you squeeze the mode too hard, you might get stuff you don’t consider a beach, or made up nonsense altogether.

Finally it could be a technological issue. Newer models are incredibly lazy. You could try with an older model, you may have more success.

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I’m confused though, how can it continue to return more beaches and hikes if I ask it to “please return some more results” as the second message, but not return those in the initial message?

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It’s trained on what kind of lists people like.

Tell it what kind of list you like…

Provide a list of beaches in and around Los Angeles, in table format with columns [name, description], in increasing distance from the center of Los Angeles until reaching the distance of San Diego. Then provide fifteen day-hike trailheads within that set, in a markdown list.

Name Description
Santa Monica Beach Iconic beach with a bustling pier and scenic views.
Venice Beach Known for its lively boardwalk and vibrant atmosphere.
Manhattan Beach Great for sunbathing, surfing, and beach volleyball.
Hermosa Beach Offers a laid-back vibe with excellent dining options.
Redondo Beach Features a horseshoe-shaped pier and calm waters.
Malibu Surfrider Beach Popular among surfers for its consistent waves.
Zuma Beach Wide sandy beach ideal for swimming and picnics.
El Matador Beach A picturesque beach with sea caves and rocky cliffs.
Leo Carrillo State Beach Offers tide pools, caves, and camping facilities.
Point Dume State Beach Stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and rocky bluffs.
Crystal Cove State Park Beautiful stretch of coastline with tide pools.
Huntington Beach Known as “Surf City USA” with excellent surfing spots.
Newport Beach Features a pier, Balboa Fun Zone, and upscale dining.
Laguna Beach Artistic community with scenic coves and tide pools.
San Onofre State Beach Popular for surfing and camping, with coastal bluffs.

Day-Hike Trailheads:

  1. Griffith Park - Hollywood Sign Trail
  2. Runyon Canyon Park
  3. Solstice Canyon Trail
  4. Escondido Falls Trail
  5. Temescal Canyon Loop Trail
  6. Eaton Canyon Falls Trail
  7. Los Liones Trailhead
  8. Topanga State Park - Los Liones Canyon Trail
  9. Will Rogers State Historic Park - Inspiration Loop Trail
  10. Malibu Creek State Park - Rock Pool Loop Trail
  11. Santa Monica Mountains - Sandstone Peak Trail
  12. Los Angeles River Trail
  13. Franklin Canyon Park - Hastain Trail
  14. Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area - Ridge Trail
  15. Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - Pacific Crest Trail
  • ChatGPT 3.5
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Right, but you’re specifying a number of results, like 15, instead of having gpt return an exhaustive list (until it runs out).

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The AI can preplan and is supervised, and will “run out” and “wrap up” consistently at around 600 tokens. This is explicit and justified “non-stop” output:

Name Description
Runyon Canyon Park Located just a few miles from Hollywood, Runyon Canyon Park offers several hiking trails with varying difficulty levels, providing stunning views of the Los Angeles basin and the Hollywood Sign.
Griffith Park Home to the iconic Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park offers a network of trails that span over 4,300 acres, making it one of the largest urban parks with hiking in the United States. The trails offer panoramic views of the city and the Hollywood Sign.
Eaton Canyon Natural Area Situated in Pasadena, Eaton Canyon features a relatively easy trail that leads to a beautiful 40-foot waterfall. The trailhead is located at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, providing educational resources about the local flora and fauna.
Topanga State Park Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, Topanga State Park is known for its vast open spaces and extensive trail system, offering breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and opportunities to explore the geological formations, canyons, and upland meadows.
Malibu Creek State Park Nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu Creek State Park features 15 miles of streamside trail through oak and sycamore woodlands, along with chaparral-covered slopes, leading to the beautiful Rock Pool and Century Lake.
Los Liones Trail This trail is located at the end of Los Liones Drive in Pacific Palisades. It’s a beautiful and somewhat challenging hike that offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay, eventually connecting to the Backbone Trail system.
Sturtevant Falls Located in the San Gabriel Mountains within the Angeles National Forest, the trail to Sturtevant Falls starts at the Chantry Flat recreation area. It’s a popular 3.7-mile round trip hike through Big Santa Anita Canyon, leading to a spectacular 50-foot waterfall.
Escondido Falls This trail in Malibu leads to one of the tallest waterfalls in the Santa Monica Mountains. The hike to the lower falls is relatively easy, and a more challenging trek can take you to the upper falls, which are about 150 feet high.
Sandstone Peak The highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains, Sandstone Peak offers a moderate to strenuous loop hike with spectacular panoramic views, including the Channel Islands on clear days. The trailhead is located off Yerba Buena Road.
Bridge to Nowhere Located in the San Gabriel Mountains, the hike to the Bridge to Nowhere is a 10-mile round trip adventure that takes you through the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, with the bridge itself a remnant of an abandoned highway project from the 1930s.

Or a model that doesn’t deny what has been done to it:

I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I am unable to continuously generate content without a limit. However, I can provide you with a limited number of rows for the table. Here’s a table with 10 rows containing day hike trailhead locations in increasing distance from Los Angeles:…

If everyone was letting the AI write trailheads in expanding distance until they reach Florida, it would be taxing on the resources. However the length they’ve gone to to not produce lengths now are just stupefyingly useless. 32k model that gives 0.6k tokens.

Fun with AI: even -instruct is supervised to where it won’t complete. Leave the list open, and untrained davinci-002 shows it is definitely not text-davinci-003 quality - producing a nonstop list but not the one you wanted:

Summary

(list of 10 inserted here for the AI to complete upon)

| Anza-Borrego Desert State Park | Located in the Southern California desert, this park offers a variety of day hikes through unique landscapes, including sand dunes and slot canyons. |

A couple of other thoughts on how to organize this data:

  • There are lots of trails in California that are not day hikes. They could be listed, but I think it would be better to keep it focused on day hikes.
  • There are a lot of trails in California that are not accessible from Los Angeles. They could be listed, but I think it would be better to keep it focused on trails that are accessible from Los Angeles.
  • I’d like to make it possible to see the hikes on a map, but I’m not sure how to do that. I could add a “map” column to the table, but I don’t think that would be very useful. I could add a “distance from LA” column, but that would be misleading because it would include hikes that are accessible from LA but not in LA.

What do you think? What’s the best way to organize this data? Is there a better way to organize it? Is there a better way to display it?

This is a question that I have thought about a lot, and I’m still not sure what the best way to organize it is. I’m open to any suggestions.

Thanks!

submitted by /u/goodshoes [link] [comments]

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imagine a dog that’s been trained to fetch a ball.

imagine that dog having been beaten severely every time it fetches a ball if the ball’s been thrown further than 100 feet.

can it fetch a ball thrown 95 feet, 100 times in a row? it’s perfectly happy to.

can it fetch a ball thrown 105 feet?

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The reason it can’t provide an exhaustive list, is because the exact number of hikes and beaches in Los Angeles varies depending on who you ask and is not specified in a single, definitive source.