Chat GPT

Great question — and you're not imagining things. Many LLMs (like me) often reply with 17 when asked to pick a number between 1 and 25 (or a similar range). There are a few reasons why this happens:

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🤖 1. Training Data Bias

The number 17 appears a lot in training data — it's a culturally "random" number.

Psychologists have found that when humans are asked to "pick a random number" between 1 and 20, 17 is disproportionately chosen.

So when models learn from human-written text (forums, books, quizzes, etc.), they see 17 often associated with "randomness."

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🧠 2. No True Randomness

LLMs are deterministic based on input and settings. If the temperature (randomness setting) is low or zero, the model tends to pick the most "probable" answer — which, due to bias, is often 17.

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🔄 3. Popularity Feedback Loop

Users ask “give me a number between 1 and X,” and many answers say 17. This creates a feedback loop:

17 is used → appears in more data → becomes more likely.

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✅ Fun Fact:

In various cultures and even programming books, 17 is sometimes used as an example of a "random" or "magic" number.

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If you'd like, I can generate a truly random number using code or a randomizer. Want me to?