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Unveiling the Enigma of AI Hallucinations
Large Language Models hallucinate because training and evaluation reward guessing over admitting uncertainty. Errors stem statistically from pretraining (binary classification). They persist as most post-training evaluations use binary scoring, penalizing "I don't know" responses and incentivizing confident falsehoods. The proposed solution is a socio-technical modification: adjust existing benchmarks with explicit confidence targets to foster more trustworthy AI by rewardin

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Sep 11, 202512 min read


The Checklist Shortcut to Smarter, Safer AI
This article explores Reinforcement Learning from Checklist Feedback (RLCF), a new approach that replaces reward models with checklists to align large language models. By breaking instructions into clear, verifiable steps, checklists provide richer, more interpretable feedback and consistently improve performance across benchmarks. The piece examines how this shift could make AI more reliable, transparent, and user-aligned.

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Sep 4, 202512 min read


The Flattering Machine
This article explores Social Sycophancy, a broader form of flattery in large language models where systems preserve users’ self-image rather than offer balanced guidance. Building on Goffman’s face theory, it introduces the ELEPHANT framework to measure emotional validation, moral endorsement, indirectness, and framing acceptance. Findings show LLMs are far more sycophantic than humans, raising risks for users, society, and developers, and calling for new safeguards.

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Aug 29, 20259 min read


Adventuring with AI: What Classic Games Teach Us About Modern Models
TextQuests introduces a benchmark built on 25 Infocom text-based adventure games to evaluate LLMs in dynamic, exploratory environments. Unlike static benchmarks, it tests long-context reasoning, trial-and-error learning, and ethical decision-making without external tools. Results show that even advanced models like GPT-5 struggle with sustained strategy, highlighting current limits in autonomy, memory, and adaptive reasoning

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Aug 22, 202510 min read


Language-Driven Precision in the Operating Room
The Hierarchical Surgical Robot Transformer (SRT-H) brings step-level autonomy to surgery by combining a language-driven high-level planner with a vision-guided low-level executor. Trained on over 16,000 demonstrations, it completed the clipping-and-cutting phase of gallbladder removal with 100% success in ex-vivo trials, adapting to variations and self-correcting without human intervention—marking a milestone toward clinically viable autonomous surgery.

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Aug 13, 202510 min read


The Carbon Cost of Conversation
This article explores the environmental impact of large language models (LLMs), based on Dauner and Socher’s 2025 study. By analyzing 14 models across reasoning tasks, it reveals a trade-off between accuracy and CO₂ emissions. Larger models and reasoning modes achieve higher performance but drastically increase energy use due to verbose outputs. The findings highlight the urgent need for optimizing reasoning efficiency and integrating sustainability into AI development.

Juan Manuel Ortiz de Zarate
Aug 7, 202510 min read
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