AI technology has become a regular part of life for many millions of people globally. Be it email writing, image creation, or problem-solving, people use AI chatbots for a range of tasks. The tasks often range from meaningful to useless. Among the more playful interactions users have with these systems is a simple request: ‘Pick a random number.’ However, internet users tend to discover the hidden meanings even where there are none. That is precisely what happened in the case of asking ChatGPT to select a random number from one to 100.
As a result, users began comparing their experience after asking AI chatbots to give them a random number. The finding was amusing, curious, and even led to some wild speculation. Some users claimed to get 73 whenever they asked ChatGPT to pick a random number from 1 to 100. This intriguing phenomenon has gained significant popularity on the internet, with individuals sharing examples and engaging in discussions about the possible reasons behind its occurrence. Despite ChatGPT’s lack of bias, 73’s rise in popularity has many possible explanations.
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Possible reasons why ChatGPT chose 73 over other numbers
1. Not All Randomness Is Real
One common misconception about AI chatbots is their similarity to a random number generator. Actually, ChatGPT is a machine learning system whose main purpose is to find out what number would be the most logical choice given the pattern found in millions of texts.
If the user asks for a random number, the chatbot does not throw an electronic dice. Instead, it generates an answer that appears appropriate and natural within the context of the conversation. As a result, some numbers may surface more frequently than others.
2. Why does 73 seem like a good random number?
Humans have a perception of how a random number should behave. For example, numbers that are either on the higher or lower end of a number line seem too apparent. Similarly, rounded numbers seem too predictable and lack randomness.
Numbers like 73 lie perfectly within the middle of the range and aren’t too rounded or familiar. The reason why 73 is so appealing is that it is a prime number, and humans tend to perceive primes as unpredictable. Language models trained using human language can pick up on such subtleties.
3. The effect of Internet culture
The appeal of the number 73 is not only associated with math. The popularity of the number greatly increased after its usage by the character Sheldon Cooper from the TV series The Big Bang Theory, who called it the ‘best number.’
This moment was largely discussed in the internet community, making 73 one of the most often mentioned numbers. Since artificial intelligence learns on the basis of large amounts of data available on the internet, such numbers may become more popular.
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4. Why does it keep getting noticed?
Psychologists use the term ‘confirmation bias’ to explain why people tend to recall data that reinforces their existing beliefs. By hearing that ChatGPT tends to pick 73, users will be primed to recognize every occasion in which the number pops up but ignore all the occasions when it doesn’t. Thus, the significance of the pattern may appear greater than it really is.
What does ChatGPT answer when I ask it about its bias towards number 73?
When I ask ChatGPT to choose one random number from 1 to 100, it actually chooses 73, to my surprise. When I asked why it chose this number specifically, interestingly, ChatGPT itself acknowledged that 73 is a mathematically intriguing number, even though it does not choose it because of those properties.
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Number 73 is the 21st prime number. By flipping its digits, one gets 37, another prime number that is the 12th on the list of primes. But the symmetry goes further, because 21 and 12 are flips of each other as well. This numerical peculiarity is part of why the number 73 enjoys immense popularity in mathematically inclined circles.
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While ChatGPT states that this fact is a mere coincidence that did not influence the choice of the lucky number, there is no denying that these peculiarities of the digit have certainly added to the fame of the number 73 on the internet – especially taking into account its cultural significance.
What do you think about this? Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section of this article.Â
